
12. 



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AFLOAT ON 
THE JAMES 



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Published 
and Copyrighted 
by 




The Virginia 
Navigation 
Co. 




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— He [ki(ii\Tii\o 









SWORD AND PLOWSHARE. 




THE NEW "princess OF THE JAMES" 

HE earliest voyagers in European 
craft sailing up from the Span- 
ish Indies along the southern 
coast turned their prows west- 
ward above stormy Hatteras, 
thankful, perhaps, for a haven, 
and searching for a strait lead- 
ing to the ever-golden un- 
known, found, instead, a great 
river, along the densely wooded 
shores of which they drifted 
far into the interior, until foam- 
ing rapids forbade them. These 
venturous and insatiable sailors found the forest and savannahs of 
this pleasing stream peopled with a native race of noble mien and not 
less haughty or capable than the descendants of the English fore- 
fathers who, nearly a century later, came sailing into sparkling Hamp- 
ton Roadstead, bestowing upon the stream a royal name and establish- 
ing along its banks a chain of estates, which have sustained the purest 
aristocracy and nurtured many of the greatest statesmen this continent 
has ever known. 

For nearly two centuries the inevitable struggle, which everywhere 
attends the effacement of an old race by a newer strain, continued. The 
alluvial valley of the James became the garden of the South. The 
splendid homes of cultured and influential planters, whose negroes were 
uncountsble, were famous for storied hospitality in a period of politi- 
cal and social sunshine, but the clouds of adversity grayed the Virginia 
horizon when the Erie canal was finished and western bread-stuflfs 
filled the seaboard markets. The storm burst m 1861 and then another 



chapter, the greatest in the eventfiii annals of the "River of History" 
was written. The ivy clambered unhindered over stately portals; the 
tempest of warfare swept across this pleasant scene and left it desolate. 
This book is the story of a revival. 

The two cities of the James, Richmond and Norfolk, once provincial 
towns, have become objective points of great railway systems and 
numerous steamship lines, these being both the cause and effect of a 
ratio of prosperity far in advance of their ante bellum conditions, and 
which is but in its inceptive stage. A genial climate and a good 
harbor have made Norfolk the packing-house of the kitchen garden 







II mTbi: li' it'll: liW^S! 

^ I I I I norans. 1 1 1 \\\ flMMlini 



STEAMER POCAHONTAS. 



of every Northern market. Lumber, early fruits and vegetables, corn, 
hay, and even wheat, not to mention fish and oysters, are the tribute of 
the tide-water counties of Princess Anne, Norfolk, Nansemond, Isle of 
Wight, Elizabeth City, Warwick, Surry, James City, Charles City, 
Prince George and Chesterfield. 

Richmond has grown great in iron, tobacco, flour-milling, wood- 
working, and a great variety of other industries. Her suburbs extend 
beyond many of the old fortifications, and while retaining zealously the 
social characteristics of bygone days, she has kept in line with any city 
of the South in every point of material progress. 

For many years a single steamboat, the staunch old Ariel, has main- 
tained a regular tri-weekly route between Richmond and the ports 
upon Hampton Roads. From her decks tens of thousands of old sol- 



diers of both armies have looked again upon the scenes of battle and 
march in which they once participated. Numerous tourists hibernating 
to the resorts of Old Point Comfort, Virginia Beach and the far South 
have gone or returned by this pleasant voyage of a day, while local 
travel or freightage has depended upon the Ariel for transit at 
nearly thirty landings along the river. 

Recently the Virginia Navigation Company, owners of the Ariel, 
was reorganized. Plenty of capital was enlisted and the splendid new 
steamer Pocahontas, a veritable princess of the river, was built and 
placed in service. The increase in fiirst-class and local travel was large 
and immediate, and it is the purpose of this book to not only inform 




STEAMER ARIEL. 



the traveler already upon the decks of the swift Pocahontas regarding 
the crowding historic miles, the enchanting scenery and the renewed 
prosperity along its shores, but, as well, to tempt the great numbers of 
those who have "always wanted to see the James" to carry the half- 
formed resolution into effect. They are offered a tour unrivaled in thrilling 
historic interest, comfort and variety by any similar journey in America. 
The James River gathers its crystal waters in many secluded valleys 
indenting the eastward slope of the Alleghany Mountains, among the 
forest-bound western counties of Virginia, and winding through hun- 
dreds of picturesque miles — now sleeping in murky pools, famous for 
the gamey bass, and then pouring, in a hurrying tempest of foam, 
through rocky defiles, it finally becomes the servant of commerce at 
Richmond. Here the last of the rapids disturb the course of the 



stream, endowing Richmond's factories with abundant, but only parti- 
ally employed, water power, and then the river and the tides of the 
sea are merged. Here begins our story. 

RICHMOND, 

The capita! city by the James, presents to the eye of the new-comer 
from whatever direction of approach, a most pleasing appearance. Its 
central feature is tlie dignified Capitol building, upon the brow of the 




WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND CAPITOL BUILDING, RICHMOND. 

highland which slopes downward thence to the swift river, covered with 
a wide expanse of commercial streets and substantial public, business 
and private buildings. The hotels are all in the immediate vicinity 
of the historic Capitol and its beautiful green Square, which is the glory 
of the city. The new State Library rises to the left or east of the 
Capitol, and behind it is the costly City Hall. 

THE OLD CAPITOL BUILDING. 

The corner-stone for the State Capitol of Virginia was laid in 1785. 
In the rotunda stands Houdon's statue of Washington, which is re- 
garded as one of the most faithful counterfeit presentments of the 

6 



"Father of our Country" in existence. Houdon's bust of Lafayette is 
near the statue. The Senate chamber was used during the Civil War 
by the Confederate House of Representatives. This room, the hall of 
the House of Delegates opposite, and the rotunda gallery, contain 
numerous paintings and portraits of great historical value. ^ 




NEW CITY HALL AND CAPITOL SQUARE, RICHMOND. 



The Land Office contains the oldest State records in America, being 
continuous from 1620. The State Library contains 40,000 volumes, 
which are in the new building. Visitors are admitted to the roof, 
which commands a grand view of the scene of many conflicts. 

The grounds are adorned by an imposing equestrian statue of 
Washington, by Crawford, with the six figures of Patrick Henry, 
Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, Thomas Nelson, Jr., John Marshall 
and Andrew Lewis grouped below. It was completed since the war. 
Statues of Henry Clay, T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson, Governor Smith and 
Dr. Hunter McGuire are near by. 

7 



NEW STATE LIBRARY. 



The beautiful building destined to contain the wealth of volumes 
belonging to the State of Virginia, long stored in the Old Capitol, adds 
another to the many modern attractions of the city. It faces the Capitol, 
from which it is separated by a grassy interval only. 

NEW CITY HALL. 

The most costly structure in Richmond is the fine City Hall upon 
Broad street, opposite the Capitol. 

MANY RECENT ARCHITECTURAL ADDITIONS. 

The architects of Richmond are to be credited with a fine array of 
large and attractive buildings, as well as a pleasing reform in the art of 
house-building. The Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Build- 
ing, Planters Bank, Y. M. C. A. 
Hall, Y. W. C. A. Hall, Masonic 
Temple, Times-Dispatch Build- 
ing, Mutual Building, American 
National Bank Building, First 
National Bank Building, Travel- 
lers Building, Union Passenger 
Stations, many magnificent hotels 
and apartment houses, and num- 
erous great factories are in evi- 
dence, as well as many blocks of 
beautiful residences along Frank- 
lin and other fashionable streets. 

THE HISTORICAL 
ROUND. 

Strangers in town with a few 

hours of leisure rarely forego the 

carriage tour to see the carefully 

preserved landmarks with which 

the heavy hand of war endowed 

POWHATAN'S GRAVh, NKAK RiLHMOND. Richmond. Thesc may be bticfly 

summarized as follows: Jefferson Davis Mansion, or "White Houseofthe 

Confederacy," Site of Libby Prison, "Castle Thunder," Libby Hill and 




new Confederate Soldiers' Monument, Oakwood Cemetery, containing 
graves of 16,000 Confederates, Gamble's Hill, overlooking Belle Isle, 
once a prison camp for hapless Federal captives, the Tredegar Iron 
Works, and the bridges spanning the James ; Hollywood Cemetery, 
wherein an impressive stone pyramid rises among the graves of 11,000 
Confederates, and where are buried the Confederate Generals A. P. Hill, 
George E. Pickett, William Smith, J. E. B. Stuart, Commodore Maury 
and many famous men who died in earlier days, including Presidents 
Monroe, Tyler and Jefferson Davis. There is also to be seen the lofty 
monument bearing the equestrian figure of General Robert E. Lee, the 
Hill statue upon the Hermitage road and Wickham statue in Monroe 
Park, the Soldiers' and Sailors' monument on Libby Hill, the Richmond 
Howitzers' monument, and the Stonewall Jackson, Stuart and Jeff. Davis 
monuments. 

ANTE-BELLUM RELICS. 

These include the Monumental Church, on which site the memorable 
Richmond Theatre was burned, St. John's Church, "Washington Head- 
quarters," old Bell Tower in the Capitol grounds, and the reputed grave 
of Powhatan. 

DRIVES TO BATTLEFIELDS. 

Carriages will make special trips to any of the following fields : 
Yellow Tavern, 4 miles; Mechanicsville, ^Yz miles; Cold Harbor, 10 
miles; Gaines' Mill, 8 miles; Fair Oaks and Seven Pines, 8>2 miles. 
The latter, as well as White Oak Swamp, may be reached by rail. 

POPULATION AND PROSPERITY. 

For Richmond and her suburbs a population is claimed of 188, coo, of 
which rather more than two-thirds are whites. 

About 1,919 manufacturing concerns employ 32,577 hands, who earn 
wages annually amounting to about $20,340,000, and employ a capital of 
1^36,004,942, with a product of $101,209,493. 

The Jobbing trade amounts to $78,297,750. The sales of leaf tobacco, 
not including the very heavy shipments of the Imperial Tobacco Co., the 
Export Leaf Tobacco Co., and the American Tobacco Co., are about 
^10,000,000, exclusive of the very heavy purchases here from other points 
of the Imperial Tobacco Co., the Export Leaf Tobacco Co., and the 
American Tobacco Co., and the value of manufactured tobacco, including 
cigars and cigarettes, exceeds $22,900,000. Iron manufactures, includ- 



ing locomotives, marine engines, carriages, and agricultural implements, 
are only second to tobacco in point of magnitude. Fertilizers, lumber, 
flour and baking powder are large items. Total assets of banks are over 
$68,000,000. Deposits over $46,000,000, and the Insurance business is 
proportionately developed and important. Groceries and provisions are 
included in jobbing. 

The tax valuations of Richmond are $70,000,000. 

The sands of the past year have been weighed in the balance and 
not found wanting. As those in the new glass begin to find their 
level, there is only hope that amounts to conviction, and faith in the 
future that is based on the solid foundation of a great achievement. 

No year in the history of Richmond has been so emphatically and 
unequivocally successful as 1912. The growth has not in any sense been 
perfunctory, but in every department of commerce it has been distinct 
and emphatic. Every record of the past has been broken, and not 
broken merely, but completely, outdistanced by the great totals that the 
dead year rolled up. The rich legacy that 1912 leaves to the tenderling 
is a world of enthusiasm born of memorable achievement, and great con- 
tracts that promise to carry the new year on a tidal wave of success, even 
beyond the limits set by its predecessor. 

The growth of the business enterprises of Richmond in 1912 has not 
been the result of an ecstatic boom. There have been no extraordinary 
influences to merely inflate totals doomed to collapse in the early future, 
like an overstrained balloon. Instead, the growth has been conservative, 
steady, even, and the result of prosperous times, progressive measures, 
and the fulfillment of enterprising ideas. 

The year 1912 has been notable for the many improvements inaugu- 
rated. First, and foremost, comes the solution of the clear water 
problem which has vexed men's souls ever since the city mains have 
been filled with the unattractive fluid that the James river has brought 
to our doors. The placing of the electric wires underground was a dis- 
tinct advance along progressive lines, and the result of this enterprising 
achievement is yet to be fully realized. 

The connections of the Virginia Navigation Company at Richmond 
are elsewhere given in detail. 

Passengers arriving in the afternoon who may wish to spend the night 
upon board of the steamer Pocahontas (alternate nights only) will be 
provided with staterooms and meals. The wharf at Rocketts is reached 
by electric car or carriage. It is near the foot of Libby Hill, at the head 
of navigation, eastern end of the city. 

10 




STEAMER POCAHONTAS APPROACHING RICHMOND. 



THE PALACE STEAMER POCAHONTAS. 



No steam vessel so entirely suited to first-class travel in points of 
elegance, speed, safety and comfort in all weathers, as the new Poca- 
hontas, has ever before been seen in southern waters. 

The Pocahontas was built at Wilmington, Del., and embodies many 

new and artistic features. 
She cost $150,000. The hull 
is of steel, length over all 
204 feet, breadth of beam 57 
feet, depth of hold 10 feet. 
Speed twenty miles per hour. 
Upon the main deck, in 
addition to the freight and 
baggage space forwards, are 
the social hall and separate 
parlor saloons for lady pas- 
sengers and servants respec- 
tively. The purser's office 
and mail agent's room are 
also upon this deck. The 
large dining-room below is 
furnished in exquisite taste, 
and the menu equals in 
quality and variety that of 
the best hotels. 









LAUNCH OF THE POCAHONTAS 



11 



The promenade deck is open fore and aft, the enclosed portion 
forming large elegantly furnished saloons. 

The motive machinery of the steamer is of the highest class, and 
she is heated throughout with steam and lighted by electricity. 

Three new boilers have recently been installed, and no expense has 
been spared to insure comfort and safety for passengers. These boilers 
were built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. 

The hurricane deck is open to passengers, where plenty of seating room 
is provided. An electric search-light apparatus crowns the pilot house. 

A PAGE FOR THE OLD SOLDIER. 

war's dread arithmetic. 



€. 



The estimated cost of the Civil 
War to the Federal treasury was 
$5,000,000,000. The total number 
of Union troops and sailors in the 
service was 2,778,304, of which the 
naval force was 105,963. Those 
who were killed or died of wounds 
numbered 359,528 in the army and 
4,588 in the navy. The Union 
forces were composed of men from 
thirty-eight States and Territories 
and the District of Columbia. 

The four States of New York, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois 
furnished about one-half the total 
number of volunteers. 

Delaware furnished the largest 

number of men in proportion to her 

population. The average age of 

the enlisted men was twenty-five 

years. The Union armies included 

a total of 2,047 regiments of all arms. 

The total number of Confederate soldiers is estimated to have been 

about 700,000 men, and the death rate from battle and sickness is 

believed to have been more than double that of the Federal armies. 




CONrEDERATE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 
MONUMENT 



12 



Two thousand two hundred and sixty-one battles, engagements 
and skirmishes occurred during the war. 

In the region around Richmond, which was involved in the long 
campaigns against the city, more than 400 contests took place. 

The largest army assembled by the Confederates at any time was 
94,138 men in the "Seven Days' Battles" near Richmond, in which 
they met the largest Union force, which numbered 118,769. 

In hundreds of battles the valor of the troops upon both sides won 
the admiration of the nations of the whole world. 

MILE-STONES OF TIME. 

1524. James River explored by Lucas Vasquez d'Ayllon. 

1526. Ayllon obtained a charter for colonizing the James River 
from Charles V., of Spain, and locates a town called San Miguel, near 
the site of Jamestown. 

1584. First expedition of Walter Raleigh lands upon the coast near 
Hatteras, and names the region "Virginia," in honor of the virgin 
Queen of England, Elizabeth. Walter Raleigh knighted. 

1585. Sir Walter Raleigh's colony in seven ships arrived upon the 
present coast of North Carolina. 

1586. The colony is visited by the fleet of Sir Francis Drake. 

1587. Raleigh sends a third colony to Roanoke Island, which was 
followed by a massacre of the colonists by Indians under Powhatan. 

1606. Grant of patent to the Virginia companies at London. 

1607. First English settlement in America made upon the James River, 
at Jamestown. Captain John Smith saved from execution by Pocahontas. 

1608. Jamestown colony greatly reduced by death from fevers and 
Indians. 

1609. Expedition under Sir Thomas Gates reached Jamestown. 

1610. Expedition of Lord De la Ware arrived at Jamestown. 

1611. Arrival of Sir Thomas Dale. Settlement of the towns of 
Henrico, near the present Dutch Gap canal, and Bermuda city. 

1616. Princess Pocahontas arrived in London as the wife of John 
Rolfe, the first Virginian tobacco planter. 

1619. Governorship of Sir George Yeardley upon the James River. 
Arrival of one hundred young women for wives. First American Legisla- 
ture assembled in the church at Jamestown. 

1622. Governorship of Sir Francis Wyatt. Massacre of about 350 
settlers by Indians. 

13 



i624- Dissolution of the Virginia Company in London by James I. 

1629. The Duke of Norfolk proposed a settlement upon the south- 
ern shore of the James River. 

1633. Arrival of the Catholic colony of Lord Baltimore at the 
Capes of the Chesapeake en route to found Baltimore city. 

1642. Sir Walter Berkeley arrived at Jamestown as Governor of 
the Colony of Virginia. 

1644. Massacre of colonists by Indians. 

1647. The colony upon the James largely increased by Cavaliers, fugi- 
tive from England. 

1652. Surren- 
der of Jamestown to 
the English Heet and 
Cromwellian Com- 
missioner. 




THE POCAHONTAS MEETING AN OLD 
DOMINION LINE STEAMER. 



1660. Decline of Puritanism in 
Virginia. 

1673. Virginia granted by the 
crown to the Earl of Arlington and Lord 
Culpeper. 

1676. Bacon's Rebellion. Burning of Jamestown. 
1680. Arrival of Lord Culpeper as Governor of Virginia. 
1692. Establishment of William and Mary College. 
1705. Williamsburg founded as the colonial capital. 
1710. Col. Alexander Spottswood became Governor of the Colony. 
1736. First Virginian newspaper published weekly by William 
Parks, at Williamsburg. Norfolk incorporated. 

14 



1737- Col. William Byrd laid out the town of Richmond at the 
Falls of the James River. 

1765. Patrick Henry introduced the famous resolutions into the 
Virginia Legislature. 

1779. Richmond made the capital of Virginia. 

1781. Benedict Arnold, with 900 British soldiers, captured Rich 
mond. Cornwallis surrendered at Y'orktown. 

1 8 19. Work commenced on Fort Monroe at Old Point Comfort. 

1861-65. Civil War. 

DOWN THE RIVER. 

History begins to unroll her time-stained scroll when the hawseis 
of the Pocahontas are cast from the wharf. She beckons the traveler 
astern for a backward look along the slopes of Richmond, glowing in 
the morning sunshine. 

Slowly she swings down the contracted stream, past busy workshops 
crowding the verge of the shore, with a glimpse of "Powhatan" above, 
just where the groups of tall cedars stand, then passing the government 
rock-drills anchored over a granite reef, fragments of which half fill a 
muddy scow. Here were the sunken vessels and there the torpedoes lay 
to keep the Yankee gun-boats out if they should happen to steal past 
the watchful batteries at Drewry's BIufT. These monsters, once such 
dread ogres, slumbered peacefully in the stream, seven of them, on the 
very best terms with Richmond and the deserted ramparts hidden in the 
wildwood all around them. 

For many years several of the veteran monitors, among them the 
Manhattan, Mahopec, Lehigh, Catskill, Wyandotte and Canonicus were 
anchored in the James River, at first at City Point, but afterwards, in 
order to preserve the hulls from fouling, they were kept in fresh water. 
Ranged along the southern bank, with a pleasant background of verdure 
to relieve the color of awnings and flags, they presented an attractive 
picture. Upon the north shore, near where the monitors were, is 

WARWICK PARK. The general government has expended large 
sums upon this portion of the river in the work of deepening the channel 
which is now rather more than 18 feet and will be increased in time to 21 
feet. In this eflfort a series of jetties have been built at right angles to the 
shore line. Opposite jetty No. loi, not far inland, upon Falling Creek, 
once stood the first iron foundry in the new world, the hamlet being 
called "Ampthill." Here it is said was also located the first mill to 

15 




AMPTHILL, HOME OF ARCHIBALD CAREY. 



produce flour for export to South America. Just below "Ampthill," at 
a copse of trees upon the hillside, occurred in the year 1622 the massacre 
of about 250 English settlers by Indians. The great chief, Powhatan, 
whose daughter had married an English colonist and adopted, with the 
self-abnegation of a Ruth, the ways of his people, had gone to the happy 
hunting-grounds. His younger brother, Opechancanough, had succeeded 
to his great authority. Cherishing a long-seated hatred of the stranger 
whites, he carried into partial effect upon March 22d, of that year, a 
scheme to end the English aggression upon the James River. His 
victims were principally found at the outposts of the parent colony of 
Jamestown, located at Ampthill, Henrico, upon Farrar's Island, near 
the present Dutch Gap Canal, and Bermuda Hundred, near the mouth of 
the Appomattox River. News of the slaughter reached Jamestown by 
escaping settlers in time to prepare an effective defense. 

The estate of Wilton is upon the north shore opposite this tragic 
site, and Wilton Creek, where the gunboats were anchored, enters here. 



16 



DREWRY'S BLUFF. 

About eight miles below Richmond is still to be seen the outline of 
the famous fort at Drewry's Bluff. It occupies the crest of an abrupt 
elevation and commands a considerable reach of the stream below. 

The place was named in honor of Major A. H. Drewry, who com- 
manded one of the batteries of heavy artillery raised for the defense of 
Richmond, in April, 1862. When it became evident that Norfolk would 
soon be evacuated by the Confederates and the Capital thus exposed to 
Federal attacks by means of their gunboats, Major Drewry made appli- 




JLD \ 1RL,1NNV HOiM£. 



cation to the authorities at Richmond for the removal of his command to 
such a point upon the river as might be selected for its obstruction and the 
erection of a fort for this purpose. This was readily granted, and Major 
Rives of the engineers' department was detailed to select a site. At first 
it was thought that Hewlett's Bluff at the head of the horse-shoe formed 
by a wide detour of the river further down the stream would be the most 
advantageous place on account of the greater elevation and more uniform 
depth of water as well as the abundance of timber to be had upon either 
bank for the obstructions, but it soon occurred to Major Rives that the 

17 



enemy might readily cut a canal through the narrow neck at Dutch Gap, 
and thus neutralize all of the laborious defense, and expose the city to 
almost certain capture. As a result Drewry's Bluff was fixed upon, and 
the command of Major Drewry was sent hither. This detachment was 
composed mainly of farmers from the county of Chesterfield, many of 
whom were beyond the age of conscription. These soldiers, both by 
personal labor and the use of their teams, rendered valuable aid to Lieu- 
tenant Mason, who had been assigned as engineer to the completion of 
the fort and the obstructions, and later on the Confederate Government 
gave more active aid, and early in May, when the situation had become 
more alarming in Richmond, the citizens furnished material help in sup- 
plying rock to fill in the obstructions. 

Upon the 13th of May, when Norfolk had been captured by the 
Federal forces, the Union fieet under command of Lieutenant Rogers, 
was seen to anchor about two miles below at the wharf of Mr. R. A. 
Willis, where it remained two days, doubtless to ascertain the location 
of the fort and the strength of its garrison. Upon the morning of the 
15th they moved, and were allowed to take position without molestation. 
The flag-ship Galena and the original Monitor came abreast and anchor- 
ed about five hundred yards below the fort, the iron-clads Naugatuck, 
Aroostook, Port Royal and other armed vessels locating several hundred 
yards below them. About seven o'clock, when all was ready, the attack 
was made by the fleet with about twenty guns, and promptly answered 
from the fort in which were two Columbiads of eight-inch calibre and 
one of ten inches, and the fight continued for several hours, until an 
eight-inch gun which had been casemated outside of the fort was brought 
into use, when at half-past eleven the ships weighed anchor and retired 
down stream, much to the joy of the Confederates in the fort, who thus 
gained the thanks of the people of Richmond and the special recognition 
of Congress. Subsequently it was made a naval post and became a very 
Gibraltar in strength, with Commodore Lee in command, but no further 
attempt was made during the war to reduce this important work. For 
the facts in this case the writer is indebted to the late Major Drewry, who 
lived at Westover until his death occurred in July, 1899. At his beautiful 
estate genuine old-fashioned Virginia hospitality was dispensed. 

CHAFFIN'S BLUFF, nearly opposite Drewry's Bluff, is covered with 
redoubts and rifle pits now hidden among the wild scrub growth of nearly 
fifty years. 

19 



Fort Harrison and Fort Gilmer (Confederate) are in sight upon Chaf- 
fin's Bluff. The former was stormed upon September 29, 1864, by two 

corps of Butler's army, chiefly 
blacks, but the latter was suc- 
cessfully defended. 

Between the yellow bluffs and 

dense ramparts of verdure there 

are glimpses of prosperous look- 

;.::.. ' - " ■ -— r.^^r:,-^ j ^^ g farms, becoming more nu- 

DUTCH GAP merous as the steamer proceeds. 




DUTCH GAP CANAL. 

The river winds in great loops among the low hills ; this charac- 
teristic and the necessity of avoiding certain heavy batteries at Hew- 
lett's having led General Butler to attempt the Yankee trick of digging 
a cut-off at a point which would have shortened the stream about 
seven miles. The work was pushed by swarming soldiers night and 
day, but was not completed at the time. In 1871-72 engineers deepened 
it to its present practicable condition. 

Farrar's Island is formed by this canal, and here was once the settle- 
ment of Henrico, commenced in 161 1 by Sir Thomas Gates and 
350 men from Jamestown, of which one Ralph Hamor, Secretary of 
the Colony, wrote : 

"There is in this towne three streets of well framed houses, a han- 
som church, and a foundation of a more stately one laid, of brick, 
in length a hundred foote, and fifty foote wide, besides storehouses, 
watch-houses, and such like ; there are also on the verge of the river 
five block-houses, with centinelles for the towne's security." 



'i^^^'N, 




20 



Henrico was chosen as the site for the Colonial College about 
1619, and money was raised in England for the purpose. Mr. George 
Thorp, who was engaged here in superintending the preliminary 
work, was one of the numerous victims of the Indian massacre v\hich 
occurred in 1622 and from which the promising little community 
never recovered. 

Bishop Meade, who is held to have been accurate authority upon 
early Virginia affairs, attributes the name of Dutch Gap to the indica- 
iions of an effort by Dutch settlers to shorten the channel at this point. 




TUCKAHOE 



VARINA OR AIKIN'S LANDING. 

The name of this point upon the north shore was once familiar to 
northern readers of war news, as a flag of truce rendez-vous for the 
exchange of prisoners. Here lived Mrs. Rolfe, nee Pocahontas, after 
her marriage. The red brick house was the meeting point for officers 
of the Federal and Confederate armies. 

Varina was one of the great properties of the Randolph family, 
and one of the latest held by them. The name was derived from 
Varina, in Spain, famous for its tobacco. 



21 




MONTPELIER, HOME OF PRESIDENT MADISON 



The name of Randolph is among the most conspicuous and glorious 
in the annals of not only the State of Virginia but of the country 
at large. 

William Randolph, of Turkey Island, was the first of the family in 
America. He was a member of the Council, and Colonial Treasurer. 
Among his descendants who achieved fame in public affairs were Pey- 
ton Randolph, president of the first Congress, held at Philadelphia ; 

Beverley Randolph, Governor of 
Virginia; John Randolph, Mem- 
ber of Congress and Minister to 
Russia, and Edmund Randolph, 
Secretary of State of the United 
States and Governor of Virginia. 
The Randolph estates in Vir- 
ginia, along the James River, 
were Tuck a hoe, Dungeness, 
Chatsworth, Wilton, V a r i n a, 
Curl's, Bremo and Turkey Island. 




FISHING BOAT 



22 




DEEP BOTTOM. 



A fishing hamlet indicates the spot in front of which, beneath the 
swirling waters, a Federal gunboat lies, destroyed with a loss of forty- 
five men, by a torpedo, in 1864. 

MEADOWVILLE, the first regular landing made by the steamer, 
is upon a broad area of land almost enclosed by the river rising pleas- 
antly in the background but low and level in front. This rich alluvial 
portion was thoroughly reclaimed by systematic dyking, under the direc- 
tion of the late Mr. Edward E. Barney, then president of the steamboat 
company. He was largely engaged in agricultural development at sev- 
eral points upon the river, including Jamestown. 

Mr. Barney was president of the Virginia Navigation Company from 
its incorporation in 1893 until his death, which occurred at Meadow- 
ville, in August, 1896. His widow, Mrs. Louise J. Barney, resides at 
Meadowville and also owns Jamestown Island. 

23 



CURL'S NECK. 

The property at this landing, as elsewhere stated, once belonged to 

the historic Randolph family. It is now owned by Mr. Charles H. 

SenflF, of New York. Now the steamer rounds Curl's Neck, touches at 




CURL S NECK 



Presque Isle, (owned by Mr. A. D. Williams, of Richmond), and en- 
tering Turkey Bend, brings into view, upon a high clearing, the his- 
toric house of Malvern Hill It is just to the right of a large red- 
roofed barn. The battle of Malvern Hill was one of the bloodiest of 
the Civil War. Turkey Island plantation was the home of General 
Pickett. 



A NOTE UPON THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN. 

It may be acceptable to the reader to introduce, at this point, an 
outline of the series of events which culminated in the battle of Malvern 

24 



Hill, as a part of McClellan's campaign, ending so ingloriously in the 
embarkation of his splendid army from Harrison's Landing, and which 
in its entirety has been called the "Peninsular Campaign." 

About the middle of March, 1862, General McClellan notified his 
army that the advance into the enemy's territory was to begin. The 
Federal troops from this time until they had been conducted across the 
Chickahominy River, five months later, were constantly upon the move, 
and were subjected to the deadly miasma of the great swamps of this 
almost uninhabited region. 

Yorktown was taken after deliberate siege. Then followed a series 
of fierce battles in the vicinity of Richmond, which bear the names of 
"Williamsburg," May 4th; "Hanover Court House," May 27th; 
"Seven Pines" or "Fair Oaks," May 31st. Then, after much and con- 
stant desultory fighting, came the engagements of "Beaver Dam 
Creek" or "Mechanicsville," June 26th; "Cold Harbor," or "Gaines' 
Mills," June 27th ; "Charles City Court House," June 30th, and each 
day for a week the two armies locked horns, giving rise to the name of 
the "Seven Days' Fight," by which this sanguinary group of contests 
is known among the veterans. The largest force gathered at any time 
in the Federal army is shown upon the commander's report, June 14th, 
when the number was given at 158,838 men, of which 115,152 combat- 
ants were present for duty ; the Confederate force is approximated at 
100,000. 

Savage's Station and Frazier's Farm were fought, and finally, upon 
June 29th, at Malvern Hill, were gathered 90,000 Federal troops face to 
face with about 50,000 Confederates, where, upon July ist, the Confede- 
rates assaulted a tremendous array of Union batteries which tore their 
brigades into shreds, and despite the fact that the Union position re- 
mained untaken, the following morning found the Commanding General 
actively engaged in hurrying his great force upon a retreat to the 
banks of the James River, thus effecting the much derided "change of 
base" to Harrison's Landing, where he proceeded to make himself com- 
•fortable. 

The swamps and woods of the Peninsula were filled with the dead 
of both contestants, and there was mourning in the homes of the North 
and South alike. 

The number of killed, wounded and missing in the campaign was, 
.irrespective of the heavy death-rate from sickness, of almost unexampled 

25 



Vounded. 


Captured. 


Missing. 


1,410 


373 


2,239 


I 10 


28 


186 


223 


70 


355 


3.594 


647 


5. '^31 


207 


105 


361 


3.107 


2,836 


6,837 


227 


104 


368 


412 


1,098 


1.590 


1,513 


1,130 


2.853 


2,092 


725 


3.214 



magnitude upon both sides. The following are the official figures of 
the Federal losses : 



May 5, Williamsburg 456 

May 7, West Point, 48 

May 27, Hanover Court House, 62 

May 31, Fair Oaks, 790 

June 26, Mechanicsville 49 

June 27, Gaines' Mills, 894 

June 28, Golding's Farm, 37 

June 29, Savage Station, 80 

June 30, Glendale, 210 

July I, Malvern Hill, 397 

Total, 3,023 12,895 7,116 23,034 

Seven Days' Battle, Virginia — Peninsula Campaign, 1862. 

Killed 1.734 

Wounded, .... 8,062 

Missing 6,053 

Total, 15.849 

The substantial old house upon Malvern Hill was left practically un- 
harmed by the fight around it. It was built by a French family and 
owned at the time of the battle by B. F. Dew. Near by is an earthwork 
said to have been built by Washington during the war of the Revolution. 

SHIRLEY. 

This estate is one of the oldest upon the river. It is claimed that the 
residence was built in 1642. It is the birthplace of Annie Carter, of 
the prominent colonial family of that name, who married "Light Horse 
Harry Lee" of the Revolution, and who was the mother of General 
Robert E. Lee. 

BERMUDA HUNDRED, 

This name, as applied to the settlement near the mouth of the Appo- 
mattox river, greatly mystified Northern readers of a generation ago, 
when, as the base of General B. F. Butler's operations it began to figure 

26 



largely in the daily newspaper war despatches. This outpost of James- 
town was largely settled by persons who had been shipwrecked on the 
Bermudas and the old colonial subdivision of villages by which each 







hundred colonists were placed under the authority of a captain is still 
preserved in Virginia nomenclature. The dingy village of to-day car- 
ries little suggestion of the energy of its founders or of the vast activity 
herein 1864, the only marks of which are numerous decaying logs pro- 
jecting from the water where the Government wharves once stood. The 
Farmville & Powhatan Railroad terminates here 

27 



CITY POINT. 

From this landing a railroad extends nine miles to Petersburg, from 
which no doubt the somewhat ambitious name is derived. Trains con- 
nect with the steamers both up and down the river. The village, like 
Bermuda Hundred, is more picturesque than progressive, although there 
is an occasional modern house within the view, prettily environed in its 
verdure. A fine old mansion upon the promontory at the meeting of the 
waters of the Appomattox and James rivers was used by General Grant 
as headquarters during the operations around Petersburg. The little 
log structure which was built for his office was removed after the war 
to Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The homestead is the property of 
Major Epps. 




SHIRLEY PARLOR 



PETERSBURG. 

The historical student or interested traveler may well spend a day at 
Petersburg, which is invested with an interest in connection witii the 
war only second to that of Richmond. The city itself has some quaint 
features, which have been preserved, despite the changes of many pros- 

28 



perous years, but the centre of interest is in the vicinity of the "Mine," 
a great crater of red subsoil still marking the scene of one of the most 
thrilling affairs of the war, in the course of which a Confederate fort 
was blown into the air by means of a tunnel excavated secretly by a 
regiment of Pennsylvania miners. 

The charge following the awful explosion resulted in fearful slaugh- 
ter of the Union assailants, due to the incapacity of the officer in imme- 
diate command. This badly managed affair occurred upon July 30, 
1864. Petersburg was abandoned by the Confederate forces only after 
the fall of Richmond eight months later. One week after this came 
Appomattox, the number surrendering at that point being 28,805, and 
thus virtually ended the greatest and most destructive of modern wars. 










CITY POINT. 



FROM WAR TO PEACE. 

Not far from the fateful ravine which separated the contending 
forces in front of the "Crater" at Petersburg still stands the ruin of the 
colonial Blandford church, dating from 1735. Under the shadow of its 
walls are the sculptured tombs of cavaliers and older families, who 
rested undisturbed, though the fight and carnage raged all around them. 

29 




OLD BLANDFORD CHURCH, PETERSBURG. 



The following verses were written many years ago upon the walls of 
the old church : 



Thou art crumbling to the dust, old pile. 

Thou art hastening to thy fall. 
And 'round thee in thy loneliness 

Clings the ivy to the wall. 
The worshippers are scattered now 

Who met betore thy shrine, 
And silence reigns where anthems rose 

In days of Old Lang Syne. 



And sadly sighs the wandering wind 

Where oft, in years gone by. 
Prayers rose from many hearts to Him, 

The highest o( the high : 
The tramp of many a heavy foot 

That sought thy aisles is o'er. 
And many a weary heart around 

Is still forever more. 



30 




MAJDR F.i'i'S imusF, II I ^ piii\r. 



How doth ambition's hope take wing, 

How droops the spirit now. 
We hear the distant city's din. 

The dead are mute below ; 
The sun that shone upon their paths 

^ow gilds their lonely graves. 
The zephyrs which once fanned their brows, 

The grass above them waves. 

Oh! could we call the many back, 

Who've gathered here in vain. 
Who've careless roved where we do now. 

Who'll never meet again ; 
How would our very souls be stirred 

To meet the earnest gaze 
Of the lovely and the beautiful, 

The lights of other days. 

A recent article in the 'T^ichmond Dispatch states that the lines were 
written by Miss Eliza L. Hening, of Richmond, about the 3ear 1820. 

BERKELEY AND WESTOVER. 

Again, upon the deck of the Pocahontas, we are approaching 
Berkeley and Westover, two grand old estates upon the northern shore 
of the broadening river. The wharf is about midway between the 
manor-houses. 

31 



Berkeley is the natal-place of the first President Harrison, and is 
still in the Harrison family, of which ex-President Benjamin Harrison 
was a member. 

Berkeley is better known to the Northern soldiers and people as Har- 
rison's Landing, which was long the headquarters of General McClellan 
after his retreat from Malvern Hill. At that time there were not less 
than six hundred war vessels and transports anchored in the river near 
by, and the river shore for miles was covered with the camps of the 
soldiers. 

Harrison's Landing was later used as a place for the exchange of 
prisoners. 




grant's signal station, city point, 

Westover has been made famous by frequent writers and errant 
artists. The reader to whom the Century Magazine of June, 1891, is ac- 
cessible will find therein a most entertaining and well illustrated chapter 
regarding this most hospitable and well kept memento of a by-gone era. 

Westover was originally the property of Sir John Paulet, by whom 
it was transferred to two brothers named Bland, from whom, in turn, it 
was acquired by Colonel William Byrd, of Belvidere, a place now 

32 




DINING ROOM — STEAMER POCAHONTAS, 



known as Gamble's Hill, one of Richmond's parks overlooking the James 
River. The son of the original American colonist of this ancient English 
family laid out the town of Richmond near his father's wilderness es- 
tate. Colonel William Byrd the second built upon his lands at West- 
over a most excellent house, in 1737, which is a beautiful example of the 
colonial style, as our illustration fully indicates. Westover is rich in 
historic reminiscence. Thirty-three persons perished here in the massa- 
cre of 1622. During the Revolution the traitor Arnold came here with 
his British troops upon the way to Richmond, and Cornwallis' raiding 
cavalry stabled their horses in its rooms. During the Civil War it was 
occupied by General Pope and other Union officers. The story of the 
beautiful Evelyn Byrd, whose tomb is here, is among the most pathetic 
of Virginia's crowded annals of "knightly men and ladyes faire," who 
were oft guests of "Will Byrd, Gentleman," the Black Sivan, who sleeps 
in his canopied tomb close by his stately homestead. 

33 



Westover was for thirty years the property of Major A. H, Drewr; . 
Is now owned by Mrs. Clarise Sears Ramsey. 

WINDMILL POINT 

Is indicated upon the southern shore of the river by a white lighthouse. 
Here and at Fort Powhatan, a few miles below, two pontoon bridges were 
laid, and in two days 130,000 Federal troops crossed to invest Petersburg. 




.tK GATE. 



WILLCOX LANDING 

Is a fishery village. In the season large numbers of black river-men are 
busy with seines, the principal catches being shad and sturgeon. The 
latter are very plentiful, and their immense carcasses are shipped to 
market from the landings all along the river. Sturgeon roe is sent in 
half barrels to New York, whence it is repacked to Russia to be made 
into caviare. This industry lends a picturesque quality to the frequent 
landings which usually project far out from a shore-line bordered by 
yellow reaches of sand beach where the batteaux of the fishers are drawn 
up and their netting hung to dry. 

Just below Willcox's, Queen's creek enters the James, and upon its 
banks, but a little ride inland, is Charles City Court House, where a 
part of the "seven days fighting" occurred. 

36 



WEYANOKE. 

Here we meet another name of historic flavor and, which has its 
gruesome tale of Indian massacre. The residence is of frame and is 
surrounded by a broad plantation. 




A NATIVE RIG. 



The passing traveler, observant of the varied onlookers thronging 
the crude wharves as the steamer comes and goes, may find much to in- 
terest and amuse. All of Kemble's types, in both white and black, are 
there, but one's admiration is provoked for the handsome planters, brown 
and athletic, often, it must be confessed, "Colonels" and "Majors" 
very likely by good right of service, and for the slim, pretty Virginia 
girls who come down the winding roads from unseen domiciles, for the 
mail, or to welcome school-girl friends to some Eutopia of Old Dominion 
hospitality. Everybody on board, except outside barbarians like the 
writer, knows the "Colonel" and the young ladies, wherefore there is a 
lively interchange of pretty badinage, in the soft accent of the region, 
the sweetest English in all the world. 

Building materials, new farm machinery, furniture and similar freight 
landed all along the river from the steamer proclaim present prosperity. 

Not far below Westover is located the property of Sherwood Forest, 
the birth-place of John Tyler, tenth President of the United States. The 
house and outbildings are of wood, but are still in good repair. 

37 



\ ^^ ^^' 



V 










FORT POWHATAN. 



Unlike a very large number of places in the United States bearing 
this warlike prefix, where no fort is in evidence and probably never 
existed, Fort Powhatan is visible to the traveler in the form of a heavy 
stone wall from which a sandy beach slopes prettily down to the water 
and the nets of fishers, their boats and the litter of a small waterside 
community is strewn about. Long ago great trees grew above the rocky 
escarpment; wild vines clamber along the stony front, the guns are gone 
or buried. The interior parade has been filled in with materials from 
the bluff behind, and a small country store and usual post office pro- 
claim the era of peace from the midst of the scene. Fort Powhatan 




FORT POWHATAN. 



played a part in the war of 1812 and was garrisoned by the Confede- 
rates. What midnight alarms, what beating of drums to man the guns, 
what vigils of lonely sentries scanning the far away tides, and what 
assaults and defense have been known in and around Old Fort Powha- 
tan, may be left to the fancy of the reader who gazes upon it com- 
fortably, while the purser is busy on the little wharf and the captain 
stands by to ring the starting bell. In its moss-clad decadence it is a 
thing of delight to an artist, for whose especial vexation these plentiful 
bits of combined nature and history come into view and are left in the 
wake of the hurrying steamboat altogether too briefly. 

There is a record that, during the Civil War, a battery was built 
upon the bluflF above the old fort, and was of much annoyance to the 
Federal gunboats. In July, 1862, it was shelled by the Sebago. 

39 




WEYANOKE— RIVER h I 



UPPER BRANDON. 

The two Brandons are upon the opposite exposures of a long penin- 
sula formed upon the southern shore of the river by a wide detour of 
the stream to the northward. Brandon proper, to which we shall pres- 
ently come, after touching Oldfieid, has its rich fund of reminiscent de- 
tail fully set forth for the perusal of those who may care to read, but 
Upper Brandon with all its lovely nooks and shadows, rambles and out- 
looks, its suggestions of bountiful prosperity, rich hospitality, and colo- 
nial grandeur, has successfully eluded the gleaners of historic straws 
who have preceded the present writer, giving him no friendly hint from 
which to gild the moment of passing with truthful legends of courtly 
men and noble dames of the early days. The able writer of the last 
guide book made hereabout gives the mystery up by retreating upon the 
statement: "It is a large and fine old plantation, the house is a hand- 
some one and in good repair." Even the discriminating 'photographer, 
the best friend of the casual writer, has perhaps seen a "haunt" from 
Dancing Point, when he landed at Upper Brandon, and has r(;treated 
with unopened lens. 

41 



STURGEON POINT 

Suggests the fishery interest which in the season engages the attention of 
a large number of men, both white and black, all along the river. Heavy 
catches of shad are sent to market and the lumbering stupid sturgeon, 
previously mentioned, who really doesn't care enough for the vanities of 
life to fight his way out of the nets, is caught in very considerable num- 
bers. There is a brick-making industry at Sturgeon Point, and schooners 
loading with the product of the kilns. 

OLDFIELD. 

Here also is a brick-yard, the clay in this vicinity being of a highly 
excellent quality for producing good building brick. 

LOWER BRANDON. 

Here is one of the few fine old places in the south which still remain 
in the hands of the descendants of those who found them, Brandon is 
owned by the Harrison family. Its walls are enriched with paintings of 
knightly men and beautiful women. Nearly all of the presidents of the 
United States have experienced its hospitality. Its environment is rich 
in romantic suggestion. 

SANDY POINT. 

Sandy Point is opposite Claremont. A lumbering and fishing village is 
located here, and near by is Dancing Point, which has its uncanny tra- 
ditions of ghostly terpsichoreans seen by the shivering darkies at midnight. 

Not far below Sandy Point the Chickahominy river enters the James. 
This stream leads through a portion of the peninsula of great historical 
interest. In New Kent county, in addition to the war history of the 
neighborhood, stands the old church in which Washington was married. 

CLAREMONT 

This great plantation once extended along the river, including 12,500 
acres, seven miles, and was owned by Major Wm. Allen. This wharf 
is the terminus of the James River division of the Southern Railway, 
connecting with the Norfolk & Danville line at Emporia, fifty-five miles 
distant. This is a shipping port of growing importance. 

The forest area of this portion of the State is a rich heritage, and 
the traffic in timber is large and growing. At Claremont a group of 

42 




BRANDON PARLOR AND HALL. LOWER BRANDON. 



large schooners is clustered around the wharves receiving cargoes of 
railroad ties and other products of the woods. 

The next stop is at Jamestown, and as a prelude to a sight of this 
famous spot, the following historical matter is here introduced: 




ST, PETER S CHURCH, NEW KENT COUNTY, IN WHICH WASHINGTON WAS MARRIED. 

A SPANISH EXPEDITION UPON THE JAMES. 



It is related by the painstaking and accurate historian, John Fisk, 
that in 1524, eighty-three years before the arrival of the English expe- 
dition to colonize Virginia, Lucas Vasquez d'Ayllon came from Hispa- 
nola, and entering the James River with six hundred people and one 
hundred horses, proceeded to secure a foothold. Two years later, 
having obtained a charter from Charles V., he began a town somewhere 
near Jamestown Island, which he called San Miguel, but which, upon 
the death of the leader and many of his people from fevers, was 
abandoned The Spaniards brought with them negro slaves, thus 
inaugurating here the system of slave labor in America. 

45 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 



THIS IS THE STORIED REGION OF JOHN SMITH AND THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS. 



"^HE affairs of Jamestown developed no more rugged character 
f/, I J/ than that of Captain John Smith, whose fame has been 
chiefly perpetuated by a single incident in a life unusually 
varied with strange adventure, even in the unsettled and 
hazardous age during which he lived. John Smith was the 
)? son of a Lincolnshire farmer, and was born in 1579. At the 

age of thirteen years, his parents having died, he had become heir to 
a comfortable property, which he seemed to care but little for, inasmuch 
as he was bewitched with a desire for adventure by sea, but any sort 
of hazard seems to have been to his liking, for at fifteen years he had 
enlisted as a soldier in the campaigns of the Low Countries. Eight 
years later he was back at his native place and essayed the life of a 
hermit, reading abstruse classics, and practicing in the saddle the 
sports of lance and ring. Then, again, he became a soldier, fighting 
against the Turks and having various lively, or perhaps, more properly, 
deadly adventures. There is a story of his capture in the East and sale 
into captivity, and of a great combat with three Turks, whose heads 
were afterward engraved on Smith's coat-of-arms. 

At twenty-five years he was again in England with the rank of 
captain, at which period the great question of colonization in America 
was occupying a place in the public mind. He had planned to go to 
South America, but instead, finally joined his fortunes with the expe- 
dition of the Virginia Company, chartered by the crown for the purpose 
of colonization, traffic and christianization of the natives. 

The expedition left England with sealed orders and the names of 
those to whom authority was given were not to be revealed before the 
end of the voyage. Captain Newport was simply the navigator en- 
gaged to take the fleet across the ocean. Per consequence, the idle 
people, restless spirits many of them, presently became divided into 
cliques, and in these contentions for the control of matters Smith had 
an active hand. One hundred and fifty idle men, four months upon a 
sea voyage in three small ships, are capable of untold mischief. John 
Smith had more enemies than friends when Virginia was sighted, and 
the former, who had charged him with mutiny during the voyage, kept 
him from assuming the authority with which the sealed orders invested 
him, as a member of the Council. He was kept under arrest. 

46 



^ 



The site of Jamestown, now one of the nnost healthful locations in 
the valley of the James, was at the time of its selection, upon May 13, 
1607, as a place for a settlement, most unsuited for such a purpose. 

The Indians were full of fight and the military experience of Smith 
as well as his bravery was of much service to the colony. Upon re- 
turning from a trip to the Falls of the James with Captain Newport, 
Smith found that the settlement had been attacked by the savages and 
many, including most of the Council, wounded. 

Newport returned to England on June 22, 1607, leaving one hundred 
and five settlers at Jamestown, with food for thirteen weeks. Within 
three months half of the colony had died of fever. Smith, who had 
finally become a member of the council, and had inaugurated military 
regulations, worked with vigor in exploring, hunting and trading with 
the Indians for corn. There were few healthy men left in the settle- 
ment. VVingfield, the president, was deposed in favor of RatclifTc. 
The only hope left rested in the return of the ships. History more than 
hints at the practice of cannibalism in Jamestown in this trying time. 
The trip made by Smith up the Chickahominy River in December and 
which resulted in his capture was one of a series of desperate efforts 
to get food for the people yet remaining alive. He had with him twelve 
men. With two men and an Indian guide he left his main party and 
continued up the stream in a canoe. Several of his men were killed 
by the Indians, but after capture he was taken to the villages of the 
nation and treated, according to his own printed story, with much con- 
sideration up to the time when in the presence of King Powhatan he 
was seized preparatory to being killed with clubs, but rescued by the 
King's favorite daughter. Several versions of this event were printed 
in London, the chionicler of the period being doubtless quite as charm- 
ingly inditTerent to mere facts as the talented journalist of to-day, and 
these were so variant as to largely discredit the entire transaction. The 
American people will not sooner give up this pleasant little morsel of 
history than they will consent to part with the precious hatchet, which 
hacked the cherry tree, in the hands of the future Father of our Coun- 
try. Let no man rise up and deprive us of Pocahontas and the captive Smith ! 

A few days later John Smith was released and came back to James- 
town, and found certain of the leaders engaged in a plot to take the 
pinnace and go back to England. This he frustrated. These men, in 
reprisal, condemned Smith to be hanged, but the opportune return of 

48 



Newport saved him. To the miserable remnant of forty survivors, the 
ships brought one hundred and twenty recruits, with provisions, im- 
plements and seeds. 

In 1608 John Smith surveyed the Chesapeake and its tributary rivers, 
preparing a map which was remaricably correct, of the entire seaboard 
of Virginia, a copy of which can be seen on the boat. 

In that year, too, he was made president of the colony, his enemies 
having mostly returned to England. In September more men and sup- 
plies came, and also two women. Mistress Forrest and her maid Ann 
Burras, the latter soon finding a husband in John Laydon. Smith's 
energies seemed to have never waned in his barter with the Indians, 
and his efforts to keep the colony together, where laziness, induced by 
malaria and hunger, went hand in hand. 

In May, 1609, a fleet sailed from England consisting of nine ships 
with five hundred men. Upon one of these, the Sea Adi'enture , the 
chiefs of the expedition. Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers, took 
passage. Captain Newport as Vice-Admiral was the navigator, Rat- 
clifle, Martin, and Archer, all opponents of the adventurer Smith, were 
also along. One of the ships of the fleet was the first sea-going vessel 
built in America, the Virginia , which had been constructed at the 
northern colony under George Popham, at the mouth of the Kennebec 
river two years before. Seven of the ships arrived in safety, one was 
lost at sea, and the flag-ship containing the notables was unheard of 
until the following Spring, when it was learned that the Sea Ad'venture 
had been wrecked upon the reefs of the Bermudas, the crew and passen- 
gers being cast ashore after several days of great peril and suffering, 
and where during the winter they had been busy in building two small 
vessels in which to continue the trip. It was doubtless the members of 
this portion of the expedition who afterward located at the place near 
the mouth of the Appomattox River, which wascalled the Bermuda Hundred. 
The career of Smith in Virginia was cut short by the explosion of 
a quantity of gunpowder in his boat while he was on a trip to the Falls 
of the James, which so injured him that he was glad to return to Eng- 
land upon one of the ships for surgical aid. When Smith departed 
from Jamestown he left five hundred colonists in the settlement. Upon 
the arrival of Gates, six months later, from Bermuda, he found but 
sixty alive. Altogether John Smith spent but two years and a half in 
Virginia, but he had by his great activity and valor so linked his name 
with the chain of colonial history that whatever his faults, many of 
which have been charged, he stands one of the principal figures in the 
picturesque chronicles of the Old Dominion. 

49 



THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS. 




OWHATAN, otherwise Mamanatowick, lived upon the north 
fl side of the stream, afterward called the York River, a few 
miles above the site of Yorktown, and wiien the earliest of 
aJ^^^-5- English colonists arrived upon the James River, they soon 
^^'^ learned, doubtless, of his greatness as a native ruler, his 
domain extending far to the north, south and west of the village of 
Werowocomoco, which was the capital of his nation. He was soon 
known as a friend of the white strangers, although it was whispered 
that the mystery of the disappearance of Raleigh's lost colony upon 
Roanoke Island could have been explained by him. 

The American Indian then, as ever since, was a child when pleased, 
and nothing was so easy as to gain his confidence, but when aroused 
by the demon of his natural fury, he was the most implacable and cruel 
foe the pioneer of any land ever faced. 

The colony at Jamestown was made up of all kinds of elements, and 
while it was the declared policy of the Virginia Company and its 
trusted agents to conciliate and christianize the natives, there were, no 
doubt, frequent provocations of the wild children of the trackless forest, 
and almost from the beginning the vendetta of races commenced. 

Upon the loth of December, 1607, Capt. John Smith, oneof theorigi- 
nal company left at Jamestown when Captain Newport returned with 
his fleet to England, started upon one of his numerous tours of explora- 
tion, going up the Chickahominy River. As elswhere related, the three 
men who were with him were killed, while Smith was reserved for a 
like fate in the Indian council house. He was, at this time, forty years 
of age. The tale has it that he was carried from village to village, 
kindly entertained and treated altogether in a most agreeable fashion 
until, one day "two great stones were brought before Powhatan; then as 
many as could laid hands upon him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid 
his head, and being ready with their clubs to beat out his brains. Poca- 
hontas, the king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his 
head in her arms and laid her own upon his to save him from death."* 

Pocahontas was, at this time, twelve or thirteen years old. The 
Indian meaning of her name is said to be "Little Wanton." 

There is a curious resemblance of the pretty story of this rescue with 
the experience of Juan Ortiz, one of the soldiers of De Soto, who having 

*Capt. John Smiths History of Virginia, London, 16:4. 

50 



been captured by the Floridian Indians in ^s^9< ^^^ condemned to the 
usual torture, when the daughter of Ucita, the chief , intervened her prayers 
to her father and thus saved him, and after several years of slavery, con- 
ducted him out of the forest in safety to tell the tale and afterward to be- 
come a valuable intermediary between the Spaniards and the Indians.* 

After Capt, John Smith had been restored to Jamestown, it is re- 
corded that Pocahontas, whose home across the narrowest portion of the 
Peninsula was but a little distance away, was often a visitor at the 
English settlement where she was on good terms with the boys and 
girls, romping with them in her scant apparel, and it is recorded that 
she could turn "cart-wheels" with the best of the youngsters, and was 
altogether a regular "tom-boy." She was usually accompanied to 
Jamestown by a wild train of Indian companions, and more than once 
brought warning of danger from attack. The consistent sequel of the 
story of the saving of the captive by this pretty Indian girl is lacking 
in this instance, for she did not grow up while a grateful John Smith 
waited longingly to espouse her, and thus become responsible for the 
still greater increase through many generations of the innumerable John 
Smiths who now people the earth. No, she did better, for in time she 
married a respectable and altogether desirable young man named John 
Rolfe, who was the first planter of tobacco in Virginia, and who had 
learned to love the comely young savage while she was held a prisoner 
at the Fort in Jamestown by Captain Argall as a hostage for the re- 
turn of certain settlers and property captured by her royal parent. 

Pocahontas had, about this time, been baptized as a convert to 
Christianity under the name of Rebecca. 

John Rolfe was a widower, but his attachment for his dusky help- 
mate seems to have been constant and sincere. 

Upon hearing of the wish of the young colonist to marry his 
daughter, Powhatan was pleased and sent his uncle, the old chief 
Opachiso, with two of his sons and probably a suitable retinue, the 
king himself being too old and feeble to come, to witness the marriage. 

Rolfe and his wife lived near Henrico until 1616, when they voyaged 
to England with Governor Dale. There were also several other young 
Indian people with them, the object being to educate them as Christian 
teachers among their people, but one of them, Tamocomo, was the es- 
pecial agent of his father-in-law, Powhatan, sent to verify the won- 
drous tales told him by the Virginia settlers. 

*Portuguese Relation. 

51 



It may be well imagined that the advent of this picturesque delega- 
tion from a new world created a great flutter in London. The princi- 
pal figure, Mrs. Rolfe, was duly presented at court, feted by the aris- 
tocracy and generally received as the daughter of a potentate. Through- 
out this experience it is said that her modesty and grace of bearing and 
personal beauty won for her the admiration of all whom she met. 

It is sad to learn that this bright picture soon had an ending, for 
after about one year the beautiful Indian Princess died at Gravesend — a 
name sadly befitting the circumstances — as she was about to return to 
the colony of Virginia. While in England she became the mother of a 
son who was named Thomas, The boy was educated by an English 
uncle, afterward coming to America and, settling at Henrico, became a 
prominent figure in local affairs. A daughter of Thomas Rolfe mar- 
ried Col. Robert Boiling, and from this union sprang by intermarriage 
with the Randolphs of Curl's Neck many of the most influential and 
wealthy families of the Old Dominion. 




OLD HOUSE AT JAMESTOWN -1640. 



.52 



JAMESTOWN ISLAND. 

The culminating point in intense interest attending the voyage of 
the James River is found upon its approach of the steamer to the fine 
wharf at old Jamestown. Here is laid the scene of the series of tragic 
events which form a part of the history of the first successful colony of 
the English people in America. It is, indeed, the very birthplace of 
Anglo-Saxon supremacy upon this continent. A spot which should be 
the annual Mecca of multitudes of patriotic Americans. 

The reader will, in perusing the brief relation of the story of Capt. 
John Smith, and the accompanying sketch of the life of his dusky 
rescuer, Pocahontas, derive an adequate idea of the history of the set- 
tlement during the first thirty months of its existence, dating from May 
13th, 1607, when it was chosen by the Council after seventeen days of 
exploration and discussion. 

These founders were Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith (who was 
under arrest) , Edward Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Ratcliffe, 
John Martin and George Kendall. Of these the only one remaining to 
exercise authority at the end of a year and a half was John Smith. 

The arrival of Sir Thomas Gates, in May, 1610, after his long de- 




OLI) POWDEK MAGAZINE AT JAMESTOWN. 



53 




^ ^^^«^^tl:J^,^ 






'.;s»--/ ^i/*'' 



-^^>.r.5>S.WM-.T^ 



CHURCH AT JAMESTOWN. 



tention by reason of shipwreck, found the remnant of the colony in such 
sad straits that he decided promptly upon the abandonment of the place, and 
upon the 7th of June the whole company sailed away from a spot which was 
so deadly to all their ambitions, purposing to go to Newfoundland, hoping 
there to find larger ships in which to embark for England. Upon arriving 
opposite a point of the southern shore of the James River, a few miles below 
Jamestown, the crews went ashore to hunt the wild hogs which were plenti- 
ful there and which gave the place its name of Hog Island (now Homewood) . 
Here they remained two days, and this circumstance changed not only the 
destinies of thecolonists but of civilization in this land, for asthe little ships 
were waiting for the ebb tide a boat came to them from the seaward, bring- 
ing messages from the flagship of Lord De La Warre, who had reached the 
anchorage of Old Point Comfort. The colonists were induced to return. 

Under De La Warre the life of the English along the river took on 
a new ambition. Sir George Somers and Captain Argall were sent to 
the Bermudas for hogs, the former soon dying there, the latter returning 
after a stormy experience. 

In 1661, Sir Thos. Dale came with an expedition, followed in August 
by another under Sir Thos. Gates. 

Settlements and forts were located at many points along the river. 
The growing of tobacco for the London market soon absorbed much of 
the energies and the cleared land of the colonists. 

The ravages of fever, from year to year, among the decimated popu- 
tation were offset by frequent arrivals of more colonists. Many cava- 
liers, adherents of Charles I., were among them; gentlemen and soldiers 
unaccustomed to hard work. Later, when the throne had reverted to the 
son of the beheaded monarch of England, the Puritans flocked across 
the seas and the Huguenots also came. Under the administration of Sir 
George Yeardley, Jamestown was unhappily made a Botany Bay for 
about one hundred felons from the prisons of the fatherland. Another 
and far different importation in this year, 1619, was the arrival of a 
considerable number of young English women, who were speedily 
bought up by the planters for wives at so much per head, payable in tobacco. 

During 1619 twelve ships arrived at Jamestown from over the seas, 
bringing a total of twelve hundred and sixty-one persons. This year 
also witnessed the assemblage of the first legislative body upon the con- 
tinent, which met at Jamestown, in the church, and consisted of twenty- 
two representatives and the Governor and Council. About this time a 

55 



Dutch ship landed a cargo of negro slaves at Jamestown, the first used 
by the English in America. 

During the years 1619, 1620 and 1621 the number of colonists sent 
to Virginia was three thousand five hundred and seventy. Many patents 
were granted to planters for private plantations, and the beginning of 
many of the noble estates which were long the pride of the South was 
then made 

The year 1622 is memorable in the annals of the colouy by a massa- 
cre of the settlers at the weaker points and isolated plantations along the 
river by the Indians. The whole number who perished in this tragic 
onslaught was about three hundred and fifty. The colonists who es- 
caped flocked to Jamestown, abandoning what remained undestroyed, 
and in London despair settled down upon the friends of the colony. 
The policy of conciliation and efforts to civilize the savages gave place 
to a determination to destroy them, and thus a war of races was waged, 
which long retarded the prosperity of the region. 

Lord Yeardly died in 1627 and was succeded by Francis West, a 
brother of Lord De La Warre, and a year later the first royal Governor, 
Sir John Harvey, arrived. 

In 1634 the James River settlements were divided into eight shires, 
namely, James City, Henrico, Charles City, Elizabeth City, \\'arwick 
River, Warroquiyoake, Charles River and Accawmac. The shire of 
James City was subdivided into James City, Yorkhampton and Bruton 
Parishes. 

In 1648 the number of English settlers and Americans of English 
parentage upon the banks of the James River numbered fifteen thousand, 
and many fine residences, the result of prosperity in the tobacco trade, 
were located along the wild-wood shores of the stream. 

The event which led to the final decline of Jamestown as a centre 
of authority and trade is found in Bacon's Rebellion, which, com- 
mencing through ths efforts of certain fiery young planters to rid them- 
selves of the Indians, led to a quarrel with the testy old Governor, Sir 
William Berkeley, from which a small civil war resulted, during which 
Bacon's rebels captured and burned Jamestown in the year 1675. 

Governor Berkeley covered his name with infamy by executing a 
number of citizens of good repute who happened to be among those 
who differed with him, but he was recalled to England by the King 
and died in merited disgrace. 

56 



The burning of Jamestown does not appear to have led to its aban- 
donment, for it is recorded that its population was considerable until 
near the end of the century. In 1690 the census of the English-speaking 
people in the colonies of the James was forty thousand. 

The growing importance of the middle plantations which gradually 
developed into the settlement of the village of Williamsburg resulted 
in the year 1705 in its selection as the seat of government. The College, 
new State House and Governor's Palace were soon the marvels of the 
countryside, and poor old Jamestown was left to testify to the muta- 
bility of human affairs. 

Many owners have possessed the land of Jamestown Island, and its 
successive title-holders have bestowed but scant care upon the remaining 
evidences of its old-time occupation as a busy pioneer community. 

The late Mr. Edward E. Barney did more within a few years to 
develop its possibilities as a plantation and a patriotic resort than any 
of his predecessors. Large areas have been reclaimed from the marsh 
which once covered its rearward margins; roads have been built, and 
the fine old house has been made habitable. 




BRIDGE AT JAMESTOWN. 

The land upon which the greater part of the original town was 
situated is now covered by the waters of the James River, and the con- 
stant crumbling of the earth along the shore, often revealing frag- 
ments of ancient brick walls, has long threatened the stability of the 
beautiful tower of the "first church built in America." This pic- 
turesque land-mark is seen just above the wharf in the midst of the 
dense copse of sycamore trees and clambering vines which cover the little 
cemetery at its base. Just beyond it is the great mound of a Confede- 
rate fort long held by the Southern soldiers during the Civil War. 

57 



About an equal distance down stream, in the midst of the well-tilled 
fields, is the substantial mansion which is believed to be the oldest 
European house in America. 

Dr. James D. Moncure, a descendant of one of the early owners 
writes in response to an inquiry as follows : 

Williamsburg, Va., April 17, 1894. 

"Jamestown was situated on the upper end of the island, which was 
then a peninsula, connectmg with the main land at a point now known 
as 'Amblers,' the thoroughfare being the mouth of Powhatan Creek. 
The mansion was built about 1640 by Wm. Cary or Carey, son of the 
then Mayor of Bristol, England. Wm. Cary left the property to his 
daughter Martha, who married Edward Jaquelin, a Huguenot, and a 
relative of the famous Vendean Chief, De la Roche Jaquelin, royalist 
leader in the First French Revolution. Mr. Edward Jaquelin gave the 
place to his daughter Elizabeth, who married Richard Ambler, the son 
of John Ambler, Sheriff of West Riding, Yorkshire, England. Richard 
left the property to his son Edward Ambler, who married Mary Cary, 
the daughter of Col. Wilson Cary, of Celeys. Miss Mary Cary was 
sought in marriage by Gen. George Washington, when a youth, while 
she, Mary Cary, was on a visit to her sister, Mrs. George Wm. Fair- 
fa.x. See Bishop Meade's book Col. Cary's reply to Washington's suit.* 

"Edward Ambler left the mansion to his only surviving son, Col. 
John Ambler, who commanded the James City troops during the revolution. 

"The British burned the house in 1776, and it was rebuilt in 1780 
on the old foundations except the wings, which extended on each side of 
the present house, and a varanda occupied the entire front. This house 
was again destroyed in 1862 by the Federal army, leaving the old solid 
walls still standing. The interior was rebuilt on a different plan in 
1866-67. Col. John Ambler gave this place to his eldest son, Major 
Edward Ambler, who sold it in 1821. Col. Ambler's son, John Jaquelin 
Ambler, states in his family records that as a boy ten years old he had 
often walked from Jamestown to the 'Main' Farm, now known as the 
Main, Amblers and St. Georges. My uncle, John Jaquelin Ambler, was 
born in 1800. 

"My records state that the estate of Jamestown contained in 1781, 
3,200 acres; this does not include that part of the island subsequently 
bought from Sam. Travis. 

"Richard Ambler built the first custom house in the English colonics 

at Yorktown, still standing, and he came here to take charge of the 

custom dues. ,,^T .1 

1 ours very truly, etc., 

"James D. Moncure." 

*NoTE. — The reply of Wilson Cary, Esq., to Washington's suit for his daughter was in 
these words: '"If that is your business here, sir. I wish you to leave the house, for my daugh- 
ter has been accustomed to ride in her own coach." The young lady has been said to closely 
resemble Martha Washington. 

59 



Edward Jaquelin referred to in Mr. Monrure's communication was a 
son of John Jaquelin and Elizabeth Craddock, the father being one of 
the noble family of La Roche Jaquelin, Huguenots, who fled from 
France during the reign of Charles IX. before the massacre of St. 
Bartholomew, saving and bringing away much of their great wealth. 

Soon after the property was transferred, Mrs. Louise J. Barney pre- 
sented all of the land in the immediate vicinity of the old church tower, 
covering an area of 23 acres, to the Association for the'Preservation of 
Virginia Antiquities at Richmond, the gift thus bestowed covering the 

land still remaining upon 




FRAGMENT OF LA1)\ BERKKLEV S ORAVESIONE. 



which foundations of the early 
homes of Jamestown may be 
traced, and granting free use 
of wharves, roadways and 
bridges upon the estate. 

The fine old tower presents 
a most interesting study to the 
historical student and all in- 
telligent travelers. It bears 
internal evidence of having 
been utilized as a watch- 
tower, having three floors, the 
centre one being reached 
probably by a movable ladder, and neatly plastered, as a guard-room, 
while the upper story was provided with loop-holes for musketry. No 
traces are now to be found of a church structure, but this is explained 
by the statement made in Bishop Meade's writings,* wherein he states 
that aboat the end of the last century Mr. William Lee, of Green 
Spring, and Mr. John Ambler used the bricks of the former church 
foundations to build a wall around the graves, enclosing an area 
about one-third the size of the original cemetery, and including the 
church site. This wall still remains partly in place. 

Hardly second in point of interest to the old tower of English made 
brick are the graves of the sleepers in the shadows of the little church- 
yard. The saplings planted here by loving hands have so grown 
about and over several of the tombstones as to partially envelop them in 
their trunks, lifting them from their original places. Such is the case 
especially in regard to the tomb of Lady Berkeley. 

*01d Churches, Ministers and Families ot Virginia, by Bishop Meade, 1857. 

60 



::«' 



Pending the proposed restoration of this sacred acre most of the 
grave-stones have been numbered and removed to a safe place, their 
respective locations being carefully marked. One large slab of English 
iron-stone remains in its original situation, however, containing the fol- 
lowing well-executed inscription : 

Under this stone lies interr'd 

The Body of 

Mrs. Hannah Ludwell, 

j^ ' ^"'^^ Relict of 

*,4»*:««ii!-^*^*'^ s'. The Hon. Philip Ludwell, Esq., 

By whom she has left 
One Son and Two Daughters. 

After a most Exemplary Life 
Spent in the cheerful Innocence 
And The Constant Exercise of 
Piety, Charity and Hospitality, 

She Patiently Submitted to 
Death on the 4th Day of April, 
,' 173', in the 52d Year 

..!,. of her Age. 

The cemeteries contain many 
members of the families of Lud- 
well, Beverley, Byrd, Jaquelin, 
Ambler, Travis, Harrison, Ed- 
wards and Bla'r. 

Regarding the claim that the 

existing tower was a part of the 

first church built by Christians 

>, in America, Bishop Meade makes 

the statement that the earliest 

. ': ' place of worship was made from 

old sails fastened to trees, the 

second was a log building, which 

SUSANNA TRAVIS' GRAVESTONE, JAMESTOWN. vvas soon bumcd down , the third 

was a wooden building, 24x60 
feet, built prior to 161 1, and is probably the one in which Lord De la 
Warre, as Governor, the Council and other officers deliberated, and in 
which Governor Yeardley held sessions for public business in 1619. 

61 



The dimensions of the old church of which the tower was a part 
were 28x56 feet, and it is believed, therefore, that this church was 
erected after the burning at the time of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, and 
used long after the removal of the Government to Williamsburg in 1705. 

In 1733 a silver font was presented to the church by two members 
of the Ambler family. 



M.- 




GRAVESTONE. TRAVIS CEMETERY, JAMESTOWN. 

In the midst of a copse of trees, surrounded by plowed fields, nearly 
a mile from the manor-house, is a ruined little cemetery enclosure con- 
taining the graves of some noted Virginians. It is the site of the main 
church upon the old Williamsburg road. The tombs here are also em- 
bedded in the old trees, and upon those in sight the sculptured letters 
are artistically cut in the enduring black marble, as sharp and clear as 
when they came from the Englisn workmen. Two of them bear a well 
drawn death's head, in low relief, crowned with a wreath of laurel. 

62 




ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF 
VIRGINIA ANTIQUITIES. 

AMESTOWN ISLAND is situated on James river, 72 miles 
below Richmond and 40 miles above Norfolk. The Island 
was reached by the first colonists on May T3, 1607, and the 
/fV "^WX^ landing was made the next day from the three small ships, the 
\{ »^ J ^'^^^^ Constant, The Good Speed, and The 'Disco'very, which 
^ ^ brought over our first settlers. The ships were moored to the 
trees close \o the thickly-wooded banks along our shores. 
Disembarking from the vessels, a sail was stretched to the 
boughs of the trees, under which they were assembled, and 
the first Protestant religious exercises on the American Conti- 
nent took place, when the Rev. Robert Hunt administered the Holy Com- 
munion, and all gave thanks to God for their safe voyage upon the track- 
less ocean. 

The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities 
was organized in 1888, "its object being to acquire, restore, and preserve 
the ancient historical buildings and tombs in Virginia." It was established 
and is controlled by Virginia women, but with many men as members, 
and on its board and committees. It was chartered in 1889. To this As- 
sociation the country owes the existence of any relics of interest of old 
Jamestown, and indeed, almost the existence of the upper part of the 
Island. By an act passed in 1892, the State of Virginia conveyed to the 
Association any rights it might have at Jamestown. 

On March 3, 1893, Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Barney generously gave 22)^ 
acres surrounding the churchyard. Until Mr. Barney purchased the Island, 
the tombs and tower had been constantly subject to the vandalism of 
visitors. The A. P, V. A. at once enclosed its property, placed a keeper 
in charge, strengthened the tower, which had gotten into a very weak, con- 
dition, and planted trees and Howers. 

When the grounds were acquired by the Association they were a wil- 
derness of underbrush and weeds, the tombs in the graveyard were fast 
crumbling away, and the old Church Tower, the oldest and most precious 
possession, in danger of falling to the ground. The river was making 
rapid inroads on the shore and for a number of years the most important 
work of the Association was the endeavor to secure a sea-wall. Its efforts 
have been successful and Congress has made three appropriations for the 
purpose. Upon visiting the grounds of the Association it will be seen at 

63 



once the vast amount of means and energy which has been expended to 
complete the work of restoration and preservation of this historic spot. 

Here were the hrst trial by jury, the first English church, the first 
English marriage, the first birth of an English child in Virginia, and in 
1619 the first legislative assembly in America convened in the church here 
and at its first session took measures towards the erection of a University 
and College. 

The same year the Treasurer, a ship belonging to Capt. Argall, and 
a Dutch man-of-war, which had been engaged together in robbing the 
Spanish plantations in the West Indies, arrived with some stolen slaves, 
twenty in number, of whom they sold to the people of Jamestown. 

Here memory carries one back to the starving time, the Indian mas- 
sacres, the cruel torch of fire, which destroyed the homes and churches of 
these dauntless pioneers, and also the bright spots in the life of the colony, 
which have illumined the pages of history and of romance. 

That which stands out most conspicuously is the story of the fleet-footed 
messenger of warning, the Princess Pocahontas, daughter of the great 
Indian chieftain Powhatan ; her fascinating personality, her conversion 
and baptism, and her marriage, which has been the theme of the artist 
and the writer even to this day. She was married to John Rolfe at the age 
of fourteen in April, 1614, in the church at Jamestown, where she was 
also baptized. 

Many monuments have been erected commemorative of historic events, 
and many of them were erected by National patriotic organizations, and 
by the Association in 1907. 

Old-fashioned shrubs and flowers abound, including two varieties of 
the "Jimson weed," which originated at Jamestown. 

The tourist should not fail to see the ancient graveyard, and the un- 
earthed foundations, tombs and chancels of the two churches burned down 
in the early years of the Colony. After the fragments of the earlier church, 
the most interesting thing in the ruins is a tomb in front of the chancel, 
which once bore inlaid brasses (removed at some unknown time). This is 
the only example of such a tomb in America. To many the channels in 
the stone seem to show^ a pointed helmet and other conventional indica- 
tions of knighthood, and it has been plausibly conjectured that the tomb 
was in memory of Sir George Yeardley, who died at Jamestown in 1627, 
the first Governor of Virginia. 

Proceeding up the road from the wharf, visitors soon reach the ground 
given by the Association to the United States Government for a monu- 

64 



ment site. In the midst stands a shaft one hundred feet high, modeled 
after the Washington monument in Washington, but with more graceful 
lines, erected in 1907. There are five tablets, containing appropriate in- 
scriptions commemorating the tercentenary of the landing of the first settlers. 

The Association charges a small fee to enter its grounds and buildings, 
but is mainly supported by the life and annual membership dues of its mem- 
bers, who come not only from Virginia, but from all parts of the country. 

The headquarters of the Association is in the John Marshall House, 
Ninth and Marshall streets, Richmond, Virginia, which was a gift from 
the city of Richmond, and which is established as a Memorial to that 
great jurist. 

WILLIAMSBURG. 

It is but a few miles across the peninsula formed by the James and 
York rivers in the vicinity of Jamestown Island, and intermediate is 
the picturesque old town of Williamsburg, Virginia's first State capital, 
and, with the exception of Harvard, the seat of America's oldest college, 
William and Mary, dated from 1692. A direct highway connects the 
wharf at Jamestwon with Williamsburg, thus giving the residents an 
excellent connection with steamers. 

One of the undertakings seriously considered in this region at pres- 
ent is the completion of a trolley system connecting Old Point Comfort, 
Hampton, Newport News, Big Bethel, Yorktown, Williamsburg and 
Jamestown Island with steamboat connection up or down the James 
River, thus forming the most interesting, historic belt-line in America. 
Williamsburg was founded in 1632. 

The old Capitol in which Patrick Henry made one of his greatest 
speeches, including the defiance, "If this be treason make the most of 
it," was burned in 1832. 

A recent visitor to Williamsburg has written of it in the following 
appreciative way : 

"Before the late war, it was the boast of the people that not a 
pauper could be found, and in proof of that, I am told that the commu- 
nion alms collected from various churches had to be sent elsewhere for 
distribution. Interest and curiosity led me to present my letters of intro- 
duction, and very soon I learned from venerable lips, nothing loth to 
dwell upon the grandeur of the past, of the illuminations at Lord Duns- 
more's palace ; of the grand balls given there, when coaches and four 
rolled up the avenue, filled with ladies and gentlemen in all the glories 
of lace ruffles, farthingales, patches and powders ; of the excitement of 

65 



the citizens when Tarleton with his dragoons dashed up Duke of Glou- 
cester street, or of the visit of General Lafayette in 1824. There is not 
a foot of ground in the place that has not some historic or romantic in- 
terest. At the head of Duke of Glaucester street stands William and 
Mary College. She has been called the 'Westminster of America,' for 
in her dark vaults lie entombed the ashes of Lord Bosetome, Bishop 
Madison, Sir John Randolph, Peyton Randolph, Chancellor Nelson and 
many others equally celebrated in the history of America. 

"At the opposite end of the street, immediately facing the College, 
stood the Capitol, and midway between the two is Bruton Parish church, 
perhaps the oldest Episcopal church now in use in the United States ; no 
one knows its age, but the authorities on such subjects are inclined to the 
belief that the oldest part, the Norman tower, dates as far back as 1640. 

"The communion service and font, still in use, were brought hither 
from a church in Jamestown, which had been burnt. As it is a well- 
known fact that Pocahontas was baptized in the church at Jamestown, 
so we may safely conclude it was at this very font that the ordinance 
was performed. There are two other communion services. One bear- 
ing the arms of England, and presented by King George IIL, is of 
massive silver. But as to the other, which is of gold, there has been 
much dissension ; some think that Queen Anne was the donor. The bell 
of the church was given by an English gentleman, and there is a pretty 
tradition connected with it. It is related that while the metal was in a 
liquid state Queen Anne threw into it a lapful of silver, which is the 
cause of its peculiarly musical tone. 

"The church is built in the form of a cross, the brick having been 
brought from England, 'packed in oil.' Literally, 

O'er buttress and tower the ivy is creeping; 
In its lone, dark aisles the weary are sleeping, 

for a large part of the edifice is covered by a luxuriant growth of 
vine, and in the vaults beneath sleep many noble sons of the Commonwealth. 
"Strangers always pause before one grave, that of Lady Christine 
Stuart, sister of Charles Stuart, Earl of Traquaire, and a member of 
the royal house of Scotland. She married a Virginia gentleman, and 
lived and died in Williamsburg. There is no tombstone to mark the 
spot, but the ivy creeps lovingly over the place, and it is well remem- 
bered. The descendants of this lady are the nearest living relatives of 
Mary Stuart, and many of them inherit the grace and beauty of that 
ever-fascinating queen. 

67 



"Not far below the church, in the same street, is the Court House, 
designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and called by architects 'a build- 
ing perfect in its proportions.' 

"Near by is the house in which General Winfield Scott boarded 
awhile, a student at 'William and Mary'; also the office in which the 
Virginian Gazette, established in 1700, was printed. Still lower down 
was the site of the old Raleigh tavern, where, within the so-called 
'Apollo Hall,' Patrick Henry and his comrades uttered so many treason- 
able sentiments. 

"Not a stone's throw from this spot stood the clerk's office and the 
Capitol; and on France street, near by, was the boarding house in 
which the members of the House of Burgesses took their meals. 

"Continuing my strolls, I soon found the Masonic Lodge, of which 
General Washington was a member; in the building his chair is care- 
fully preserved. 

"The Saunders Homestead, adjoining the palace grounds, the Wythe 
Mansion and other early residences hint of the grandeur of days long 
faded into history, and whose once proud and happy inmates sleep in for- 
gotten graveyards. 'Sic transit gloria mundi' ." 

SCOTLAND. 

When the steamer Pocahontas turns away from Jamestown she 
heads across the river to the landing of Scotland, where extensive 
wharfage, great piles of lumber, cordwood, and pyramids of barrels 
account for the presence of a group of vessels, large schooners and tugs. 
The prongs of a railwav, the "Surry, Sussex and Southampton," lead 
out upon the wharves, either side of the warehouse, and connect tide- 
water with the three counties indicated in its title. 

This place, as well as many others along the river, must suggest 
to the passing traveler who is of a practical nature the abundant and 
varied opportunities for profitable investment in cheap forest lands; in 
fruit-preserving plants; building material establishments, and varied 
industries for which the raw material is close at hand and which the 
facilities for cheap water carriage place in close touch with the centers 
of traffic. Labor is low priced and plentiful, the entire region wonder- 
fully healthful, and so easily reached that the business man, leaving 
New York at 8 P. M., may arrive at river points (upon alternate days, 
at present), as far as Jamestown before 12 o'clock the next day. 

69 



HOMEWOOD. 

Less than a dozen years ago this peninsula, known upon the maps 
as Hog Island, was acquired by Mr. Edward E. Barney, of Dayton, 
Ohio, who foresaw its possibilities, both in regard to fertility and its 
advantage of location for shipment of stock and products of the soil. 
Large sums were expended upon dyking, ditching and other improve- 
ments. Tasteful cottages were built and furnished to meet the re- 
quirements of the owner and his family, his manager and employes and 
for offices. Great stables and barns were provided, and a long pier 
carried out to deep water. The estate covers 3,200 acres, a large tract 
being covered with heavily timbered forest, through which roads have 
been hewn and graded. Here the grand sweep cf the James River sur- 
rounds the cultivated acres upon three-quarters of the circle. The 
grazing fields are well dotted with fine cattle. Great squares of corn 
and other cereals rest green in the summer sunshine: every sort of 
table produce is grown upon an extensive scale. The soft winds lave 
the sandy beach with wavelets; well-kept lawns, bright with flowers, 
surround the pretty avenue of houses, and, with its store, warehouses, 
postotfice and the other essentials of this industrial principality, there is 
represented the embodiment of a successful agricultural village in the 
heart of the most favored section of the United States, when all condi- 
tions are fairly taken into account. Pure water is obtained in abun- 
dance here, as at Jamestown and Meadowville, by driven wells from 
400 to 600 feet deep. Fish and oysters of the finest kinds are the yield of 
the broad river. Deer roam the forest, partridge, quail, duck and wild 
turkeys delight the hunter with their abundance. The enthusiasm of 
the resident owner in this ideal place is justified by the results of the 
faith which tempted him to undertake this notable reclamation of a 
wild and long neglected spot. Mr. William F. Gray is the present 
owner of Homewood. 

The tourist dining upon board of the steamer Pocahontas will find 
the table garnished with early vegetables from Homewood and James- 
town. The only stop made by the steamer between Homewood Landing 
and Newport News, distant about twenty miles, is 

FERGUSSONS, 

which, like Scotland, is a lumbering and fishing station. The liver 
broadens in its estuary to about five miles, and the channel is nearly 

71 



direct to the great elevators wliich loom above the level of the Virginia 
low-lands at the seaboard terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- 
way at 

NEWPORT NEWS. 

If the war of 1861-65 devastated Virginia in the attrition of con- 
testing armies, it certainly bestowed great eventual prosperity upon her 
cnce drowsy seaports. Nowhere in the South has material prosperity 
been more constant or more overflowing with promise of an abundant 
future th::n within the capes of Charles and Henlopen. Norfolk has de- 
veloped, Portsmouth revived, Old Point Comfort rejuvenated, and New- 
port News, which lay a dormant and unconsidered plain before the 
armies of the Union whitened Its fields with tents in 1861 , has been created. 

The restless energy of capital, forever seeking a point of union 
between inland and seagoing transportations, the essentials of which are 
cheap railway construction, low grades, deep water and a protected 
anchorage, found, at Newport News, all of these advantages. Within 
a dozen years a city now having a population of about 8,000 has come 
into existence. The late Mr. C. P. Huntington, formerly president of 
the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, built his peninsula line down from 
Richmond through the old battle-fields, spread a maze of sidings at the 
water side just here, reared lofty grain elevators and massive coal 
piers, built the hotel Warwick, fronting upon a pretty park, with its 
casino and pleasure pavilions, and a little later the Newport News Ship 
Building and Dry Dock Company began the construction of one of the 
greatest ship yards and dry docks in the world, with machine shops 
which employ a brigade of skilled workers both in construction and 
repair of sea-going vessels, two of which launched from this yard are 
the largest iron commercial vessels yet made in this country. 

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway is about 1,650 miles in 
length, its western terminals being Lexington, Kentucky, and Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, those in the east being Baltimore, Philadelphia and New 
York to the northward, and Washington, Newport News and Norfolk 
in the south. It passes through numerous centers of manufacturing, 
mining and agricultural industry. 

It is operating a transatlantic steamship line from Newport News to 
Liverpool and London. The number of wharves is seven, depth of water at 
wharf ends, 26 feet at low tide. Three banks, seven land companies, three 
building and loan associations, water works, electric lighting.electric railway 

72 



ice factory and about 200 business firms exist at this point, good schools, 
a newspaper — the Sun — churches, an opera house, and a first-class hotel. 
The trolley line extends from Newport News to Hampton and Old 
Point Comfort. Just in front of the coal wharves, and a little distance 
off shore, lies the wreck of the U. S. frigate Ctunberland , sunk at the 
time of the memorable fight between the Monitor and Merrimac. This 
event, which has rcsulsed in a radical change in the navies of the 
world, took place in Hampton Roadstead, in the immediate vicinity of 
Newport News, and should have more than passing mention. 

THE MONITOR AND MERRIMAC. 

The state of Virginia, whose deep attachment to the Union is in- 
dicated by the cession of her claims to the Northwest Territory, and 
her successive efforts in the interest of harmony, having failed to arrest 
the dismemberment of the government, by the Peace Commission, and 
the Peace Congress, which she had inaugurated in 1861, seceded on the 
19th of April, 1861, upon President Lincoln's proclamation of April 
15th, calling for the enlistment of 715,000 troops from the States then in 
the Union to suppress the so-called rebellion of the Southern States. 

At dusk on the evening of the 20th of April, 1861, the U. S. Steamer 
Paivnee reached the Norfolk Navy Yard with dispatches from Wash- 
ington to Commondore C. S. McCauley, then in charge of that station. 
The Union forces at the yard, consisting of the frigate Cumberland, 
the sloop of war Paivuee, and some 800 officers, sailors and marines, 
deluded by the bold front of the small Confederate force then in Nor- 
folk, and by the ruse de guerre of running empty trains up and down 
the Petersburg Railroad, presumably bringing in reinforcements, were 
induced to abandon the post that night, after a partial destruction of 
its buildings, ships, stores and munitions of war. 

On the 30th of May one of these ships, scuttled, partially burned, 
and known as the Merrimac, was raised, docked, and in time became 
the Confederate iron-clad Virginia. The middle portion of the hull for 
about 170 feet was covered with a casemate of wood; the sides inclined 
at an angle of 35 degrees, were covered with 4 inches of iron plating, 
which was rolled at the Tredegar Works, in Richmond. The bow and 
stern projecting from under this casemate, about 58 feet at each end, 
were decked over and submerged about two feet under water. When 
prepared for action the Virginia had much the appearance of an acute 
angled house roof afloat, 

73 



March 8th, 1862. The Firginia, attended by the small gunboats, 
Beaufort and Raleigh, left the harbor of Norfolk at 11 A. M. and 
reaching Newport News at 3 P. M., attacked the Federal fleet stationed 
at the entrance of the James at about the river front now included 
within the Chesapeake and Ohio piers. The U. S. frigate Cumberland, 
mounting twenty-four large guns, was struck in the starboard fore 
chains by the ram of the Virginia and sunk within less than half an 
hour. The U. S. frigate Congress, of forty guns, endeavored to es- 
cape the fate of her consort, but went aground, head in shore. In this 
position she was attacked by the Virginia, the two gunboats, Beaufort 
and Raleigh, and the armed steamers, Patrick Henry and Jamesto^vn 
which came down the James River to aid the Confederate fleet. The 
Congress was surrendered in about forty-five minutes after the Cumber- 
land had sunk, and was burned that night by the Confederates. The 
loss in the Cumberland, killed or drowned, amounted to 120; in the 
Congress to 130. That night the Virginia anchored off Sewell's Point, 
to complete the destruction of the Federal fleet at Old Point the next 
morning. On the morning of the 9th of March, 1862, the Virginia 
moved out into the Roads to complete the destruction of the frigate 
Minnesota, which had been prevented the evening before by the ap- 
proach of night, but now found a new and unexpected antagonist in 
the Monitor, or Ericsson which had reached Old Point the night before 
at 10 P. M. A battle ensued between these two ironclads for four hours, 
but without material damage to either. The Monitor having with- 
drawn once from the action to hoist shot into her turret, as was subse- 
quently explained by her executive officer, and having now at 12 o'clock 
again retired from the action in consequence of the severe wounding of 
Captain Worden (by the explosion of a shell from the Virginia, which 
resulted in some confusion from a change in the command), the com- 
mander of the Virginia, after aw'aiting a ieasonable time, as he thought — 
about three-quarters of an hour — for the Monitor to return to the field 
of action, took advantage of the flood tide then running, and proceeded 
to Norfolk, to repair the damage to his battery, some of the guns of 
which had been broken off and otherwise rendered useless in the en- 
gagement of the day before with the Union fleet. 

On the nth of April, 1862, the Virginia again visited the Roads, 
and offered battle to the Monitor, and Stevens' iron battery, then at 
Old Point, in the presence of the Gassendi and Catinet, French men-of 
war, and the Rinaldo, an English man-of-war. The gage not being 

74 



accepted, the Confederates then proceeded, with two of their wooden 
gunboats, to capture and bring out three Union merchant vessels lying 
at anchor at Hampton Bar. This done, the Virginia waited in the 
Roads until 5 P. M., and then returned to Norfolk, as the Monitor still 
lay under the guns of Fort Monroe. 

May the 8th, 1862. The Virginia made her third visit to the Roads, 
at the time the Monitor, Stevens' Naugatuck, and other Union vessels 
were engaged in shelling the Confederate battery at Sewell's Point. 
Upon the appearance of the Virginia the Union vessels retired to Old 
Point, the Virginia followed them to within two miles of Port Monroe, 
but observing no purpose to engage, returned and anchored oflF Sewell's 
Point. 

The concentration of the Confederate army at Richmond to oppose 
McClellan necessitated the evacuation of Norfolk. The Virginia being 
utterly unseaworthy, and her draught of water twenty-three feet, ren- 
dering her removal up the James River impossible, she was run ashore 
in the bight of Craney Island, on the eastern side, the evening of May 
loth, 1862 (Norfolk being then in the possession of the Federal troops), 
and being set on fire that night by the Confederates, blew up at 5 
A. M. of the nth. 

The Monitor was lost at sea otT Cape Hatteras the night of Decem- 
ber 31st, 1862. 

See "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War." Century Co., Vol. I , p. 692. et seg. "U. S 
Rebellion Records," Series I, Vols. V. and IX. and Vol. XI. Part III. New York Herald, 
April nth, i;th,and 15th, i86i. 

OLD POINT COMFORT AND FORT MONROE. 

Old Point Comfort is a name which lingers pleasantly in the memo- 
ries of thousands of pleasure travelers. Long before the operations 
hereabout during the Civil War a large, old-fashioned hotel, very popu- 
lar with the families of the affluent planters, was located in front of 
the great fort, but early in the struggle, after it had served for some 
time as a hospital, it was destroyed by orders of the Government to 
allow free command of the harbor to the guns upon the nearby 
ramparts. 

Soon after the war Mr. Harrison Phoebus, who was connected with 
the express business at this point, built a small hotel, mainly for the 
accommodation of the army families, from which modest building has 
grown the great Hygeia Hotel, which was demolished by order of the 
United States Government. 

75 



Upon the opposite side of tlie little street which leads back across the 
Government reservation, from the fine Government wharf and the 
Hygeia Hotel, is the new and costly Chamberlain Hotel, which finds a 
large patronage, and is one of the most successful watering places in 
the United States, open throughout the year, and always gay with com- 
ing and going travelers, who find this a most agreeable midway point 
between the North and the South. 

Fort Monroe is the most extensive of our military fortifications. It 
was commenced in 1819, and is a massive example of the old-time de- 
fensive work, being heavily built of hewn stone, surrounded by a 
moat, with casemated and barbette guns, and a great water battery. 
The parade is surrounded by barracks and officers' houses set in a pro- 
fusion of shade, the whole forming a very pretty village of military 
flavor, which is always open, with its little chapel, neat walks, trophies 
and picturesque parades to the civilian sojourners. 

Fort Monroe is the National Artillery School, and the practice at 
sea-targets with the big guns is very interesting. 

Representative ships of the new navy of this country and of foreign 
powers are nearly always anchored in front of Old Point Comfort. The 
young officers of the artillery vie with their brother warriors of the 
ocean in striving for the smiles of the beautiful girls who are never 
wanting at the Chamberlain Hotel. 

From Old Point Comfort a trolley line leads across to the main land 
of the Peninsula, through the village of Hampton, which has an ancient 
church worth the stranger's call, and on to the National Military Home 
for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, the main building of which was in 
ante bellurn days the "Chesapeake Female College." The beautiful 
grounds of the Home and its constantly growing cemetery of aged 
inmates adjoin the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, which 
is devoted to the education of young Negroes and Indians of both sexes 
for the spread of enlightenment among their races. Seventeen trustees 
representing six evangelical denominations control the Institute, which 
employs the service of about eighty instructors and assistants, and has 
an average of above 900 pupils of all grades. The majority of the 
graduates become teachers of their people. The "plant" of the Insti- 
tute cost ^^550,000, which was donated by humane persons from many 
sections, from which source about $60,000 is annually received for 
operating expenses. Large sums are earned by the students by labor in 
return for tuition. 

76 



Visitors are made welcome at both the institutions at all times. 
The trolley line extends beyond these interesting places to Newport 
News. 

BIG BETHEL. 

A short distance from Old Point Comfort upon the old road to Yorktown 
is the scene at Big Bethel of one of the early engagements of the Civil War. 

Upon the preceeding evening an expedition left the fortified Union 
comps near the lower end of the Peninsula to attack the Confederates, 
who were strongly entrenched at that place. The Union troops in- 
cluded Duryea's Zouaves, Townsend's Albany Regiment, a Naval Bri- 
gade and Battalion of Regulars from fort Monroe. 

In the darkness the troops fired into each other, and upon the morn- 
ing of June loth, 1861, proceeded to engage the enemy. The expedi- 
tion had but little artillery, while the Confederates were able to use 
about thirty cannon well masked, and the result was a repulse, the most 
notable and regrettable casualty being the death of Lieut. John T. 
Greble, of the Regular troops, who commanded the battery; a young 
officer of fine promise and influential family, resident in Philadelphia. 

The steamer Pocahontas connects upon alternate mornings at Old 
Point Comfort with Baltimore and Washington steamers and the trans- 
fer boat from Cape Charles, which brings the passengers via the New 
York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad, who left New York the pre- 
ceding evening at 8 o'clock. Breakfast may be had upon board the 
Pocahontas. 

NORFOLK. 

The distance between Old Point Comfort and Norfolk via steamer is 
a little more than ii miles. This interim of space has been covered by 
the steamer Pocahontas in thirty-six minutes. 

In approaching Norfolk the vast coal shipping wharves of the Nor- 
folk & Western Railroad are seen at Lambert's Point upon the left. 
Many large steam and sail craft are always clustered here awaiting 
their cargoes. The channel leading to the city is guarded by Fort Nor- 
folk upon the left, while opposite is the large building of the Marine 
Hospital standing out vividly against the somber screen of dense pine grove. 

The Eastern and Southern branches of the Elizabeth River give 
Norfolk and its neighbor Portsmouth an extraordinary amount of wharf- 
age room, and the facilities for transhipment are admirable. 

77 



The following "manifest," borrowed from a recent excellent local 
book, condenses tfie story of Norfolk's great trade into very concise form. 

Norfolk is distinguished among American cities for its cotton, lum- 
ber, truck, coal, oyster and peanut trades. 

As a jobbing emporium and manufacturing place. 

For its foreign and coastwise traffic, its navy yard and seaside resorts. 

For its story : 
It was founded in 1680. 

Besieged and burnt in the Revolutionary War. 
Besieged in the War of 1812, and the Civil War. 

And was the scene of the Monitor and Merrimac encounter in 1862. 
It is in latitude 37 degrees north, and longitude 76. 
The aggregate annual commerce is now $150,000,000. 
The leading lines are as follows : 

Cotton $35,000,000 Coal andiron $6,785,000 

Jobbing 24,000,000 Truck 8,000,000 

Lumber 10,000,000 Oysters and Fish .. . 2,500,000 

Manufactures, 10,000,000 Peanuts 1,250,000 

The exports (cotton chiefly) are $30,000,000 a year. 
The bank clearings are $55,000,000 a year. 
Of transportation lines Norfolk has : 

Railroads 10 

Coastwise steamship lines 5 

Bay, sound and river lines 7 

Norfolk mingles an intensely commercial atmosphere with the pleas- 
ant conventionalities of the old Southern town. The many new and 
costly homes in recently projected suburbs of Ghent and elsewhere con- 
trast strongly with the roomy old-fashioned mansions of days gone by 
near the West End. At the Chamber of Commerce one will meet the 
representative citizens who have pushed their city to the front rank 
among seaports, and who will later entertain the stranger pleasatly at 
the "Business News Exchange" of the Virginia Club. 

Among the notable buildings of Norfolk are the City Hall, Atlantic 
Hotel, Old St. Pauls Church, New City Market, Y. M. C. A. Hall, St. 
Luke's Episcopal Church, New Brambleton Ward School, Haddington Office 
Building, Norfolk Academy, New Atlantic City Ward School, Marine Bank. 

78 



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ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, NORFOLK. 



Old St. Paul's Church is much visited by strangers in town. It was 
erected in 1739, restored in 1832, and re-occupied in 1865. Its ancient 
cemetery, together with the ivy clad structure, form a most picturesque 
though melancholy picture. 

The people of Norfolk lake their seashore pleasure at Ocean View, a 
few miles to the north, upon the shore of Hampton Roadstead, and at 
Virginia Beach a short ride by rail through the piney woods to the east- 
ward, where the handsome Princess Anne Hotel fronts upon the unhin- 
dered sea. This place rivals Old Point Comfort in popularity with 
Northern visitors. The landing of the steamer Pocahontas at Norfolk 
is at the Old Dominion Steamship Co. wharves, convenient to the street 
cars and trains. She also touches at Portsmouth. 

In conclusion, it is earnestly hoped that the traveler over the James 
River route who has, by the aid of these pages, learned something of 
the storied past, the busy present and roseate future of this fruitful re- 
gion, and its historic river, will feel so well repaid for the tour he has 
undertaken that it will lead him to commend its thronging attractions to 
many others who as yet only know of his charms "dimly as seen or 
heard from afar." 

79 




tJ ?J tJ t J t."$ t^ te T 



By special request the late Major A. H. Drewry has furnished for 
publication in this book the following able note upon 

TIDE-WATER VIRGINIA. 

"This region has always been regarded as one of the most favored 
sections of the 'Old Dominion.' V^arious water courses irrigate a region 
naturally rich and highly productive of all the cereals, and the profitable 
growth of grapes and other fruits for trucking and stock raising. 

"Much of the land is underlaid with fine deposits of marl, the most 
potent of fertilizers, with the development of rapid and cheap transpor- 
tation from all the river points for all kinds of produce to the great 
cities of the North, ready sale for all surplus products seems now as- 
sured, greatly to the benefit of the farmer, the handler and the consumer. 

"In point of abundance of food this region is unsurpassed by any 
portion of the whole country. There is an unfailing supply of fish and 
oysters, game of every kind, including deer, water and wood-fowl, 
among the latter being the partridge and wild turkey, and, in short, all 
the conditions of an idyllic existence. 

"The population being almost purely native American, and largely 
descendants of the old families, is unusually cultured and refined. 

With the improved drainage of low tracts along the river malarial 
conditions seem to have disappeared, while the genial and equable 
climate acts effectually against the inroads of typhoids, pneumonia and 
like diseases prevalent in less favored latitudes. 

"Here the pleasure seeker and the invalid may alike enjoy the bright 
sunny days of winter at a time when the frosty winds and snows of the 
North would keep them in that region closely indoors. In verification 
of all this the passing traveler, especially upon the trip along the James 
River, may easily discover that a large proportion of the beautiful old 
mansions along its leafy shores are the homes of hale old men, born and 
bred there, scions of the families of long ago, real old Virginia gentle- 
men who have enjoyed life to its fullest and attained an age of 75 or 80 

80 



years, specimens of a class which in passing away has endowed large 
tamilies with an abundance of this world's goods out of the profits of 
farming, a pursuit which, in the long run, is the best any man can fol- 
low; its rewards may be slow but they are far more sure than those of 
any other form of occupation. Here, under his own 'vine and fig tree' 
the land owner may rest at ease, seeure against the terrors of blizzards, 
strikes and panics, happy in the society of those he loves and for whom 
he cheerfully toils. " 




81 



Felix Keegan, President. J. E. Donahue, Sec'y-Treas. 

HOTEL LEXINGTON, 



American 

Plan 

from $2.50 

to $4.00 



LEXINGTON HOTEL CO. 




European 

Plan 

$1.00 and 

Upwards 



Twelfth and Main Sts., Richmond, Virginia 

The First National Bank, 

NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, 
Cor. Washington Ave. and 28th St. 

Capital, $ 100,000.00 

SurplusandUndivided Profits, 125,000.00 
Deposits, 1,200,000.00 

We solicit accounts on our merits, and are in position to grant accommo- 
dations, large or srhall, consistant with prudent banking. 

OFFICERS 

H. L. FERGUSON President SAXON VV. HOLT, .. Vice-President 

J. R. SVVINERTON,. Vice-President J. A. WILLETT Cashier 

S. H. PLUMMER Asst. Cashier 

DIRECTORS 

R. G. BiCKFORD. J. VV. Cl-EMENTS, MATT. V. D. IIOUGHrv, H. L. FERGUSON, SaXON W. 

Hoi.T, W. B. LivEZEY, L. A.Mevfb, J.W.Robinson, 

JR. SWINERTON, J. A. VVlLLETT. 

Sixteen years of successful banking is the best assurance for the future. 

Prosperity indicates Safety and Efficient Management. We Invite Your Business. 



THE 

Norfolk National Bank, 



NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, 



ORGANIZED AUGUST 



UNITED STATES DEPOSITORY. 



CALDWELL HARDY, President 

E. T. LAMB, Vice-President 

A. B. SCHWARZKOPF, Cashier 
W. A. GODWIN, Assistant Cashier 



-^m^^mf' 



CAPITAL ^^M& Surplus ..^Profits 

$1,000,000 ^*^ $800,000 

COLLECTIONS PROMPTLY REMITTED FOR. 



Accounts of Banks, Bankers, Merchants, Manufacturers and 
Individuals Solicited. 



DIRECTORS: 



JAMES M. BARR WTHAM A.B.SCHWARZKOPF 

W- C.COBB CALDWELL HARDY ^^^^'\^ -^n««^A , , 

HUGH C. DAVIS -j- ^ [ONES ROBT. B. TUNSTALL 

LEROY W.DAVIS HENRY KIRN ^^X^.^^^p^^ 

W.A.GODWIN E T LAMB R.P.WALLER 

C. W. GRANDY CHAS. W. PRIDDY ^M. M. WHALE Y 

C. W. GRANDY. JR. F. S. ROYSTER V^-.^'r^JlW 

W. J. HARAHANj J. G. WOMBLE 



The Year-Round Resort of America. 

OLD POINT COMFORT, VA. 







Hotel Chamberlain, 



AT FORTRESS MONROE . ON HAMPTON ROADS 

The largest Military Post ^W* The Rendezvous of the 

on the Atlantic Coast Nation's Warships 

With Climate Unequalled the 

Year Round. 

GOLF, TENNIS, FISHING, SAILING, BAND CONCERTS, 

MILITARY DRILLS, NAVAL MANEUVERS. 



Interesting Illustrated Booklet Free 
Address GEO. F. ADAMS, Manager, Fortress Monroe, Virginia. 



POMPEIAN BATHS 

The most attractive addition to the Chamber I aitj is the great bath establishment just opened. 
An immense"sea- water swimming pool, of ceramic mosaic, is a most attractive feature in these baths. 
The pool, filled with salt water at an agreeable temperature, is covered with an immense sky- 
light, and has such an abundance of light and air that one is practically bathing out of doors. 

The hydrntherapeutic department includes every medicinal bath known to science. These 
baths at the Chamberlain have also a marked advantage — the use of the pute sea-water at the 
proper temperature. This is particularly advantageous, owing to the curative properties of the 
sails of the sea. 

Special booklet on baths and bathing will be furnished on application. 



THE JEFFERSON, 

Richmond, Virginia. 



it- 



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^ 




EUROPEAN PLAN 



Ideally situated in the most desirable section of Richmond 

and within five minutes walk of the business 

center and shopping district. 

400 ROOMS — 300 BATHS 

Every comfort for the tourist. Every convenience for the 
traveling man. Rooms single and en suite. Turkish and 
Roman Baths. Spacious sample rooms. 



Rates, $ 1 .50 per day and upwards. 0. F. WEISIGER, Manager. 






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Murphy's Hotel and Annex 



RICHMOND, VA. 




^^'^'CTLY MODERN HO^ 



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The newest, largest, most modern and best located hotel in 

the city. On direct car line from all railroads and 

with only one transfer from the wharf. 

Murphy's Hotel is conducted on the European Plan, and 

our rates are from $1.C0 to $5.00 per day. We have 500 

rooms, with 300 baths. 

JOHN MURPHY, President. [JAMES T. DISNEY, Mgr. 



The Monticello, 

Tidewateri Virginia's Famous 
and Norfolk's Finest Hotel. 




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THSfa^ml 




MONTICELLO REALTY CO- 

:"wne:r apnoPRiETOR 



The home for the Tourist and Commer- 
cial Traveller during their 
stay in Norfolk. 



CHARLES H. CONSOLVO, Manager. 



Old Dominion Line 



All Steamers Sail from Company's Wharf, Norfolk, Va. 



SERVICE NORFOLK TO NEW YORK, 

Every Week Day at 7:00 P. M. 



t* A X)"C^ First-class, one way, $8.00, including Meals and State- 
room Berth. Round trip, 30 days, $14.00. Tickets and 
Staterooms at Ticket Office, 169 Main Street, or on the Wharf, Norfolk, 
\'irginia. 

VIRGINIA DIVISION, 

Night Line Every Evening Between Norfolk and Richmond, 
Steamers Brandon and Berkeley. Leave 7:00 P. M. 
Stopping at Newport News and Claremont 
in both directions. 



FOR OLD POINT Steamer Mobjack, week days, 6::i0 .\. M. ; Portsmouth, 6:40 A. M. 

FOR NEWPORT NEWS AND SMITHFIELD Steamers Smithfield and Ocracoke, 
week days. 6:40 A. M. and 3:00 P. M.: Portsmouth, 6:55 A. M. and .3:15 P. M.; Bay 
Line Wharf, Norfolk, 7:10 A. M. ; 3:,30 P. M. 

FOR EAST. NORTH AND SEVERN RIVERS Steamer Mobjack, Mondays. Wednes- 
days and Fridays. 6:30 A. M. ; Portsmouth, 6:45 A. M.; Bay Line Wharf, Norfolk. 7:00 
A. M. 

FOR EAST AND WARE RIVERS Steamer Mobjack. Tuesdays. Thursdays and Satur- 
days. 6:30 A. M.; Portsmouth. 6:45 A. M.; Bay Line Wharf, Norfolk, 7:00 A. M. 



Freight for Ware, East, North and Severn landings must be prepaid. 
All schedules subject to change without notice. 
Freight received every week day until 5:00 P. M. 



Old Dominion 



Steamship Company. 




Night Line for Norfolk. 

Leave Richmond every evening (foot Ash Street) at 7:00 P. M. 
stopping at Newport News and Ciaremont en route. 
Fare, $2.po one way; $4.00 round trip, in- 
cluding stateroom berth ; meals extra. 
Street cars to steamer's 
wharf. 



FOR NE,W YORK 

Via Night Line Steamers (except Saturday) making connec- 
tion in Norfolk with Main Line Ship sailing following day at 
7:00 P. M.; also Norfolk and Western Railway at 9:00 A. M, 
and 3:00 P. M., and Chesapeake and (^hio Railway at 9:00 
A. M. and 4:00 P. M. making connection daily (except 
Sunday) at Norfolk with Main Line Ship sailing 7:00 P. M, 
Tickets 821 East Main Street, Richmond Transfer Company, 
The Jefferson, Murphy's Hotel. 



Virginia 
Navigation Company, 

James River by Daylight 

For Richmond, Petersburg, Claremont, Old 

Point, Newport News, Jamestown 

Island, and all James 

River Landings. 



Steamer Pocahontas leaves Old Dominion Wharf, Nor- 
folk. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 6:00 A. M.; Ports- 
mouth, 6:io; Old Point, 7:00; and Newport News, 7:45 
A. M., due to arrive at Richmond at 7 P. M., connecting 
with evening trains. Special stop at Jamestown Island thirty 
minutes for party of five or more. 

■p A 11 17 Norfolk to Richmond, $1.25. To 
FiYIVll/ Richmond and return, $2.50. 

Steamer from Riclimond on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and 
from Norfolk on Tuesday, Tliursday and Saturday, stops at all regular 
landings on James river. 

Tickets on sale with J. W. Brown, Jr., No. 169 Main Street, Nor- 
folk, on wharf and on board steamer. 

Freight received daily (Sunday excepted) for all above points. 

E. E. PALEN, General Agent, Norfolk, Va. 
IRVIN WEISIGER, General Agent , Richmond, Va. 



Virginia 
Navigation Company s 

JAMES RIVER DAY LINE 

CTEAMER POCAHONTAS leaves 
^ from Old Dominion Wharf, Rich- 
mond, Monday, Wednesday and Fri- 
day, at 6:00 A. M. for Norfolk, Ports- 
mouth, Old Point, Newport News, 
Claremont, Jamestown and James River 
Landings, connecting at Old Point for 
Washington, Baltimore and the North. 

Staterooms reserved for the night at moderate 
prices on the Pocahontas. 



ELECTRIC CARS DIRECT TO WHARF. 



TICKETS ON SALE AT 

Richmond Transfer Co., 821 East Main Street, or on Wharf 
or Steamer. 

Fare to Norfolk, One Way, $1.25. Round Trip, $2.50 



Freight received for above-named places and all points in 
Eastern Virginia, North Caroh'na and the East. 
G. M. Wyatt, Agent, 
IrVIN Weisiger, General Agent. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 444 819 4 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

llilllllli 

014 444 819 4 Wf 



